Locks and Lockies

Saturday, 17 July 2010 19:39

Naburn Locks are a good place to moor

We are much higher this time, as the non-tidal river has risen; it rose some more in the night, too! After lunch, we wandered down to Naburn Locks, which are Grade ll listed, to watch narrowboats and cruisers being locked through into an high flood tide.

Naburn Locks from lock tail

The Spring tides make the tidal Ouse much higher and the sandbars below the locks were not visible. The chain roller (the gates are chain operated) and river level marks at the lock tail are also well covered!

Sandbars and lock tail uncovered

Kenny the Lockie has been here for 27 years and used to operate the locks manually; now, the "new" lock is electrified. However, he still has to check the water level by eye before opening the gates!

The lock gear is unusual - below are the lock clout (paddle gear) on the "new" lock and the old one - guess which is which!

The wheel gear may have been cleaner than the horizontal one at Linton Lock where the grease leaves a "Linton tattoo" on the unwary. At one time, both Naburn locks were in use and up to 150 boats would pass through in one day.

The original lock (built 1757 with the dam and weir) lies unused and covered in weed, with the swing bridge across chamber. Both swing bridges are chain operated.

The creation of Naburn Lock Cut created an island.; a water mill was later built (1813-17) on it. Originally built as a corn mill, in the 1860s it ground flint and stone for the local potteries. It was destroyed by fire twice and was finally demolished in 1958. There are no traces of this today that we could see.

Weir with island to right

The weir was running very fast today, much more water was coming over it than above. Did you know that it requires an Act of Parliament to raise the level of a weir? However, BW were able to reconstruct it a few years back because of coal subsidence. It is now built of re-enforced concrete.

The "new" lock was opened in 1888 by the Duke of Clarence and the building for sale beside the locks is the Banqueting Hall, built in 1823 by the trustees of the navigation. It was used at the opening for a large celebratory banquet. Becuase it is listed, any new owner will be required to return it to its original state, which will cost a bomb, so it is unlikely to be sold and will either become derelict or be knocked down.

Banqueting Hall

The two lock cottages (built 1888) are easily flooded and so are the buildings (once the Lock Keeper's house, re-built in 1824) on the island. The flood marker shows the levels from January 1982.

The highest was in November 2000 - it was just above my head!

There are ingenious flood barriers at the doors of the lock buildings - the photos below show one open and one shut.

So, in a few days we too will be part of a convoy braving the flood tide of the tidal River Ouse, although we plan to by-pass Selby.