The flight of 17 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal.

Caen Hill Locks, looking downwards from near the top of the flight.

Caen Hill Locks are a flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Devizes, Wiltshire England. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 789 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1815 × 1380 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 789 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1815 × 1380 pixel, file size: 1. ... The canal at Bathampton, near Bath The Kennet and Avon Canal is a canal in southern England. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 579 pixelsFull resolution (2288 × 1656 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 579 pixelsFull resolution (2288 × 1656 pixel, file size: 1. ... Canal locks in England. ... The canal at Bathampton, near Bath The Kennet and Avon Canal is a canal in southern England. ... , Devizes is a town and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. ... Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ...

The main flight of 17 locks forms part of a longer series of 29 locks. The total rise is 237 feet in just 2 miles (72 m in 3.2 km) or a 1 in 30 gradient, making Caen Hill the steepest flight of locks in the world. The locks come in three groups: six at Foxhangers, seventeen at Caen Hill and six at the town end of the flight. Whilst the locks were under construction in the early 1800s a tramroad provided a link between Foxhangers, at the bottom of the flight, and Devizes at the top, the remains of which can be seen in the towpath arches in the road bridges over the canal. Because a large volume of water is needed for the locks to operate a back pump was installed at Foxhangers in 1996, capable of returning 32 million litres of water per day to the top of the flight which is equivalent to one lockful every eleven minutes.^[1] They were engineer John Rennie's solution to climbing the very steep hill, and were the last part of the 87 mile route of the canal to be completed. Because of the steepness of the terrain there was not the space to use the normal arrangement of water pounds between the locks. As a result, the 16 locks have unusually large sideways-extended pounds to store the water needed to operate. The flight of 16 locks at Caen Hill on the Kennet and Avon Canal Caen Hill is a steep hill at the western edge of the town of Devizes in Wiltshire. ... Portrait of John Rennie, 1810, by Sir Henry Raeburn. ... Canal locks in England. ...

In the early 19th century, 1829-43, the flight was lit by gas lights.^[2]

The locks take 5-6 hours to travel in a boat and lock 41 is the narrowest on the canal.^[3]

After the coming of the railways, the canal fell into disuse, and closed. From the 1960s there was a major clearing and rebuilding operation, culminating in a visit by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990 to officially open the new locks and the flight (although the flight had been navigable for a number of years before then). Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ...

Restoration

References

Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Coordinates: 51.35253° N 2.02559° W The Locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal are: (Influx to River Thames) Blakes Lock County Lock Fobney Lock Southcote Lock Burghfield Lock Sheffield Lock Garston Lock Sulhamstead Lock Tyle Mill Lock ? Towney Lock Padworth Lock Aldermaston Lock Woolhampton Lock Heales Lock Midgham Lock Colthrop Lock Monkey Marsh... The canal at Bathampton, near Bath The Kennet and Avon Canal is a canal in southern England. ... Wootton Rivers Bottom Lock is a lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal, at Wooton Rivers, Wiltshire England. ... The British national grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references commonly used in Great Britain, different from using latitude or longitude. ... Barge Inn at Seend Cleeve Seend Locks (grid reference ST933613) are five locks situated at Seend, Wiltshire on the Kennet and Avon Canal, England. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...