Allington Lock - Maidstone - Kent - UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

The River Medway starts its life in the high weald in Sussex. It flows from here through Kent with several others rivers joining it on route. The lower reaches in Kent are used by pleasure craft for cruising up and down the river.

In total there are 10 sets of locks along the river. The last one being Allington Lock. This is the point where the freshwater river joins the tidal section of the river. Here two sets of locks will take you from the fresh to the sea side.

The locks were originally built by order of Parliament in order to move cargo upriver in 1792. The lock was then extended in 1881. The lock was then untouched until 1939 when the lock gates were repalced. The lock itself will hold two longboats with a draught of 8m. Today the river used for pleasure only.

As one side is tidal, these locks can only be used at certain times. In summer they are used between 7am until dusk. In winter the times are restricted from 8am to 4pm. Due to the drop and that mud is exposed at low tide, the locks can only be used 3 hours before high tide, and up to 2 hours after high water.

Each operation of these locks drains 250,000 gallons of water from the freshwater side.

Waterway Name: River Medway Connected Points: These locks link the River Medway at the point where the tidal section finishes and the freshwater section starts Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1792 Elevation Difference (meters): 3.00 Site Status: Operational Web Site: [Web Link] Date Closed (if applicable): Not listed

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