Disused lock, Stoke Bruerene, Northants - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

Alongside the main Lock 14 at Stoke Bruerne is a secondary lock with normal gate access from the bottom but the top gates have been replaced by a thick brick wall which provides a footpath to the central island, the passage across the bottom lock gates is not safe and is in very poor condition. The canal and connection to the main line below the lock has been filled in, although the road bridge, which allowed the canal to pass under the road, is still there at one with the bridge over the existing working section. The main lock is able to carry two narrow boats side-by-side but this second lock is only single width.

When the first canals were built, traffic between London and the Midlands travelled by way of the River Thames and the Oxford Canal. The more direct Grand Junction route — commenced in 1793 — bypassed the difficult river sections and cut forty miles from the journey.
By 1800, the canal had reached Stoke Bruerne, where it transformed the village entirely. The proposed route ran right down the existing high street, neatly bisecting the community. A tramway was built to transport goods between Stoke and Blisworth to the north, the canal had reached here from Birmingham in 1795, as the tunnel was not yet completed. The track-bed of this tramway is still there and is a nice walk to the road at the top of the tunnel, from where you can walk to the north portal and Blisworth (there is no towpath through the tunnel).

In 1805, the opening of the Blisworth Tunnel completed the Grand Junction route, and signalled the beginning of a golden age for Stoke Bruerne. The change in water level that necessitated a flight of seven locks had the consequence of slowing down passing traffic, and the village soon became a bustling, prosperous stopover.

For a hundred years or so, the village was literally central to Britain’s commercial might. Millions of tons of food, coal, beer, iron and manufactured goods passed through the lock gates, possibly on route to or from the furthest reaches of the empire. But with the coming of the railways, followed by the motor car, newer, faster and cheaper transport alternatives spelt the end of an era for the narrowboats.

When first built the canal and locks here were built as a 'wide' or 'broad' canal, its locks were wide enough to accommodate two narrowboats abreast (side by side) or a single wide barge up to 14 feet (4.27 m) in beam. This now unused lock at Stoke was of the narrow build, an early attempt to speed up the flow of traffic when competition from road and rail started to make inroads into the amount of cargo carried by the canals. After many years of decline the buildings at Stoke were turned into a museum and the disused lock became the home of a 'boat-weighing machine' brought here from its original instalation on the (now derelict) Glamorganshire Canal at Tongwynlais. It shows perfectly the use of levers and pivots to weigh a large, heavy object with relatively small weights, easily lifted by hand. It was used (on the Glamorganshire) to help with gauging boats to enable accurate tolls to be levied on the weight of goods carried, and is one of only four such boat weighing machines known to have existed on British canals. After the Glamorganshire Canal was closed it was moved to North Road, Cardiff, and then presented to the British Transport Commission in 1955, and finally re-erected at the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum in 1964. The narrow boat on the machine is a retired London Midland and Scottish Railway 'station boat'.

Waterway Name: Grand Union Canal Main Line Connected Points: Birmingham to the north of the Blisworth Tunnel and the canal system to the south and London. Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1890 Elevation Difference (meters): 2.00 Site Status: Inactive Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed Web Site: Not listed

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