Woolhampton Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Kennet and Avon Canal

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...

, in the village of Woolhampton

Woolhampton

Woolhampton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village is situated on the London to Bath road between the towns of Reading and Newbury...

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. The lock has a rise/fall of 8 in 11 in (2.72 m) and is administered by British Waterways

British Waterways

British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...

.

Woolhampton Lock lies on the stretch of the canal that was originally built between 1718 and 1723, under the supervision of the engineer John Hore

John Hore

John Hore was an English navigation engineer notable for engineering the River Kennet navigation in 1718.Born in Newbury, Berkshire to a line of maltsters, worked alongside his father. When his father acquired part-ownership of the River Kennet, he also invested...

 of Newbury, as the Kennet Navigation. This navigation is an improved river navigation rather than a true canal, and consists of sections of the natural riverbed of the River Kennet

River Kennet

The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...

 alternating with artificially created lock cuts and locks.

Woolhampton Lock is at the downstream end of an artificial lock cut, and the river and lock cut rejoin at the foot of the lock. Just to the east and downstream of this, the navigable river is crossed by a swing bridge

Swing bridge

A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...

 carrying the road from the centre of Woolhampton village to the nearby village of Brimpton

Brimpton

Brimpton is a rural village and civil parish in Berkshire, South East England, with a population of 613. The village is located between the River Kennet and the River Enborne, and is near the Hampshire county boundary.- History :...

. Adjacent to this bridge is the Row Barge public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

.

External links

• Woolhampton and Heale's Locks on www.tonycanalpics.co.uk

See also

• List of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal