Shropshire Union Canal - Lock 7 - Tarvin Lock - Chester, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

The Canal
Before canals became popular in the UK there was a port on the River Dee at Chester.

After the Trent and Mersy Canal was built a loat of boat traffic diverted to the canal and Chester was worried about losing all its trade and so proposed a canal from the River Dee to connect to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich with a branch to Nantwich. However the Trent and Mersey Canal were unco-operative about a junction at Middlewich, and so the route to Nantwich was opened in 1779.

Later on in 1795 the Ellesmere Canal was built from Ellesmere Port to connect to the Chester Canal and later after other extensions various parts of the Canal were merged to form the Shropshire Union Canal.

The Lock
Although most boats on the canal were eventually narrow boats, the Chester Canal was built as a broad canal to accommodate the wide boats known as Mersey Flats that on this canal travelled from the connection with the River Dee.

This lock is the easternmost lock within Chester itself and was a site where tolls were collected. The toll house still stands next to the lock, but has not been used for a long time.

There is also a stop plank store next to the lock. Stop planks are used to block of the canal when it needs to be drained for maintenance work. This is often done at locks becasue the canal is at its narrowest there.

Not all the locks are numbered on the canal, but that's probably an oversight when lock gates have been replaced. This is the seventh lock from the start of the Shropshire Union canal at Ellesmere Port.

On many locks there are warning signs about making sure the boat does not get on the cill.

It's not always obvious what this means, but basically on the top gate the wooden lock gate does not go to the bottom of the lock but sits on a stone base. When the lock is full and a boat is going down, the cill is not visible. This means that when the water is released from the lock it is possible for the boat to get caught on the cill.

This lock was at its lowest when I took the pictures and the cill is clearly visible. When the cill is visible it's much easier to understand the hidden danger.

The lock is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Canal lock: c.1775 by Samuel Weston for Chester Canal Company, with later repairs. Orange and blue brick in English bond. Stone quoins, copings and piers. Pair of wooden gates to west and modern steel gates to east. Simple C20 concrete bridge and set of stone steps in south-west corner." link

Waterway Name: Shropshire Union Canal (Main Line) Connected Points: It links the canal system of the West Midlands, at Wolverhampton, with the River Mersey and Manchester Ship Canal at Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, 66 miles (106 km) distant. Other links are to the Llangollen Canal (at Hurleston Junction), the Middlewich Branch (at Barbridge Junction), which itself connects via the Wardle Canal with the Trent and Mersey Canal, and the River Dee (in Chester). With two connections to the Trent and Mersey (via the Middlewich Branch and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal). Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1775 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   01/15/2024 Littleowl1 visited it