Fenny Stratford Lock No 22

Fenny Stratford Wharves

Facilities: chemical toilet disposal, rubbish disposal and water point

Lock rise: 0 feet 11 inches

Picture: Geoff Farmer Taken: 29 June 2005 Click on the photo to see a larger version [484k]

Lock and swing bridge Picture: Nic Chilton Taken: 16 September 2007 Click on the photo to see a larger version [57k]

Entering Fenny Stratford Lock Picture: Nic Chilton Taken: 10 September 2007 Click on the photo to see a larger version [85k]

It is sometimes claimed that the existance of this low (12 inches) lock was due to a surveying error. This is not the case. When the canal was opened there was no lock here, and a long level pound extended 14½ miles from Wolverton to Stoke Hammon. But it proved impossible to make the canal bed hereabouts waterproof, with the two miles north from here the worst. So much water leaked away through the rocky bed of the canal that it was often not possible to keep the level high enough for fully loaded boats to pass.

In 1802, as a temporary measure, the lock at Fenny was added. This allowed the company to lower the 11½ mile pound from here to the locks at Wolverton by 12 inches (at this time the canal still locked into and out of the Ouse at Wolverton). The idea was to lower the top of the canal to below the level at which the leaks were happening, allowing them to be fixed without shutting the canal.

In the end this approach worked - the biggest problems with boats grounding had been to the south of Fenny Stratford Lock, and although the work of plugging the leaks was costed in 1805, and proposals were made in 1838 to raise the pound by 6 inches with a corresponding lowering of the lock, in the end the "temporary" fix of 1802 has continued for over 200 years.

Reference: The Grand Junction Canal by Alan H. Faulkner. W.H.Walker & Brothers Limited, 1993

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