Bingley Five Rise Locks
Encyclopedia
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
at Bingley
Bingley
Bingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
. As the name implies, a boat going up the lock is lifted in five stages.
Description
In effect the 5-rise consists of five locks connected together with (as always with a staircase) no intermediate "pounds": the lower gate of each chamber forms the upper gate of the chamber below. There are therefore five chambers, and six gates (the top and bottom gates and four intermediate gates). As the Leeds Liverpool canal is a wide canal, the chambers are 14 feet (4.3 m) wide, and each "gate" consists of two half-gates, "hinged" from opposite sides of the canal. Each half gate is slightly more than 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, so that the two halves close in a "V" shape (pointing "upstream"). Water pressure on the "uphill" side of the gate thus keeps it tightly closed until the water levels on either side are equal, when the gate can be opened and the boat moved to the next chamber (see canal locks for more information on how a lock is constructed and operated).The 5-rise is the steepest flight of locks in the UK, with a gradient of about 1:5 (a rise of 59 in 2 in (18.03 m) over a distance of 320 ft). The intermediate and bottom gates are the tallest in the country. Because of the complications of working a staircase lock, and because so many boaters (both first-time hirers and new owners) are inexperienced, a full-time lock keeper is employed, and the locks are padlocked "out of hours". Barry Whitelock, the lock keeper, after twenty years based here is now almost synonymous with the flight. Barry was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2006 New Year Honours List for "Services to Inland Waterways in the North".
The structure is Grade I listed.
History
It opened on 12 March 1774 and was a major feat of engineering at the time. When the locks and therefore the canal from GargraveGargrave
Gargrave is a small village and civil parish in the Craven district located along the A65, northwest of Skipton in North Yorkshire, England.It is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal pass through the village...
to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
was opened in 1774 a crowd of 30,000 people turned out to celebrate. The first boat to use the locks took just 28 minutes and the whole first trip is described here as it was in a newspaper of the time - the Leeds Intelligencer. The smaller Three Rise
Bingley Three Rise Locks
Bingley Three Rise Locks is a staircase of three locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1774 and was a major feat of engineering at the time along with the larger Five Rise opened at the same time and several hundred metres further up...
opened at the same time just a few hundred metres further down.
Tourism
The "flight" (it is a moot point whether a staircase is strictly a "flight", used strictly the term means a group of locks separated by intermediate pounds, so each lock has its own top and bottom gates) is a major tourist attraction in the area. Most boats that pass through attract a lot of attention especially at weekends where there may be a crowd of thirty people or more watching a boat go up or down.Maintenance
The staircase underwent extensive restorative maintenance in 2004, and again in 2006 when the lock gates and paddles were replaced. As is expected with such a feat of engineering it requires a lot of maintenance and is often on British Waterways' list of winter stoppages for maintenance.See also
- Bingley Three Rise LocksBingley Three Rise LocksBingley Three Rise Locks is a staircase of three locks on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1774 and was a major feat of engineering at the time along with the larger Five Rise opened at the same time and several hundred metres further up...
in West Yorkshire - Foxton LocksFoxton LocksFoxton Locks are ten canal locks consisting of two "staircases" each of five locks, located on the Leicester line of the Grand Union Canal about 5 km west of the Leicestershire town of Market Harborough and are named after the nearby village of Foxton....
near Market Harborough, Leicestershire - Watford LocksWatford LocksWatford Locks is a group of seven locks on the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal, in Northamptonshire, England, famous for the Watford Gap service area....
in Northamptonshire - Caen Hill LocksCaen Hill LocksCaen Hill Locks are a flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, between Rowde and Devizes in Wiltshire England.The 29 locks have a rise of 237 feet in 2 miles or a 1 in 44 gradient. The locks come in three groups. The lower seven locks, Foxhangers Wharf Lock to Foxhangers Bridge Lock, are...
near Devizes, Wiltshire - Fourteen LocksFourteen LocksFourteen Locks is a series of locks, also known as the Cefn Flight, on the Crumlin arm of the Monmouthshire Canal at Rogerstone in Newport, South Wales. The flight of locks was completed in 1799 and raises the water level 160 ft in just 800 yd...
near Newport, South Wales - Tardebigge LocksTardebigge LocksTardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two and a quarter mile stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire...
near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire