Days Afloat Day Boat Hire

Locks are an essential feature of any canal which needs to gain or lose height.

A few canals have no locks, such as the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal although it does have locks at either end.

Locks were built to two main sets of dimensions, known as narrow locks and broad locks, though there are many locks with larger dimensions, especially on the river navigations.

Narrow locks take one narrowboat which was up to 72 feet long and 7 foot beam. Broad locks may be designed to fit two narrowboats side by side as at Hatton on the Grand Union Canal, or may be designed for barges of about 65 foot long and 14 foot beam, as on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Most locks are between 6 and 10 feet deep but Tardebigge Top Lock on the Worcester and Birmingham falls 14 feet.

Look at this animated illustration of how a lock works.