Whilton Locks

Whilton Locks

The second lock of the Whilton flight
Waterway	Grand Union Canal
County	Northamptonshire
Maintained by	British Waterways
Operation	Manual
First built	1796
Length	72 feet (21.9 m)
Width	14 feet 3 inches (4.34 m)
Fall	63 feet (19 m)
Flight of 7 locks

Whilton Locks is the name of a flight of seven locks on the Grand Union Canal near Daventry, in the county of Northamptonshire, England. They are also referred to as Buckby Lock Flight.

The Grand Junction Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 30 April 1793, and was to run over 90 miles (140 km) from Braunston on the Oxford Canal to Brentford near London, where it would join the River Thames. Construction of the northern section, which included the Whilton locks at Buckby, was complicated by the need for two tunnels, one to the north of the locks near Braunston, which was 2,042 yards (1,867 m) long, and the other to the south at Blisworth, which was 3,057 yards (2,795 m) long. Despite encountering quicksands in Braunston Tunnel, it was finished on 21 June 1796, and the canal opened to Weedon Bec, around 2.7 miles (4.3 km) to the south of the locks. Shortly afterwards, it was extended further south to Blisworth, but there were serious problems with Blisworth Tunnel, which had failed in January 1796. William Jessop was the engineer and wanted to abandon the idea of a tunnel. He proposed to build 29 locks to get beyond Blisworth, but was persuaded to try a different alignment by three engineers who were brought in to advise. Low level headings were cut to drain the main workings of water, and the tunnel opened on 25 March 1805, the last part of the canal to be completed. The Grand Junction Canal became part of the Grand Union Canal in 1929, following amalgamation with the Regents Canal, the Warwick and Birmingham Canal and the Warwich and Napton Canal.

Below the bottom lock was a long level pound stretching to beyond Blisworth Tunnel. The seven locks raised the level of the canal by 63 feet (19 m) to a fairly short summit pound, which passed through Braunston Tunnel and then descended through five locks to Braunston. The locks were built wide enough to take two narrow boats side by side, in the hope that the canals beyond the northern terminus could be persuaded to widen their locks and that wide barges carrying 70 tons could be operated.