Grand Union Canal - Main Line (Southern section) – Lock 19 - Stoke Bruerne, UK - Waterway Locks, Planes and Lifts on Waymarking.com

This is lock 19 on the Main Line (Southern section) of the Grand Union Canal and is on the Stoke Bruerne flight of locks. There are seven locks in the flight with a total rise of 56’. This flight is just below the canal museum at Stoke Bruerne. The museum and a couple of pubs at the top of the flight make it very popular with tourists, especially in the summer. To make it even more tricky for passing boaters there are trip boats running from the village up to and through the 3057 yard long Blisworth tunnel.

The Southern Main Line locks are numbered from 1 at Braunston at the northern end to 101 at Brentford at the southern end.

The Grand Union Canal Main Line runs for 137 miles through 166 locks from Brentford on the River Thames to Salford Junction in the north east of Birmingham. All the locks are double width locks except the final 11 locks in Birmingham. The first double width locks heading south from Birmingham are those on the Knowle flight.

The southern section runs from Brentford in London 93 ½ miles through 101 locks to Braunston. The southern section of the Main Line was originally built as the Grand Junction canal. The Grand Junction canal opened from Braunston to Weedon on 21st June 1796, and a few weeks later it was extended as far south as Blisworth, where a long tunnel was under construction. Blisworth Tunnel and an embankment at Wolverton were not finished until March and August 1805 when the Grand Junction was opened as a through route for the first time. In the meantime goods had to bypass Blisworth Tunnel on a temporary railway, and at Wolverton a diversion via the river Ouse was required.

The Grand Union Canal was formed in 1929 from many separate canal systems. The Main Line itself was formed from the following four canals:

- Birmingham & Warwick Junction Canal (Salford to Bordesley)
- Warwick & Birmingham Canal (Bordesely to Warwick)
- Warwick & Napton Canal (Warwick to Napton)
- Grand Junction Canal (Brentford to Braunston)

There is a five mile section from Braunston to Napton which is actually the Oxford canal. This section was never bought by the Grand Union Canal Company.


Today the Grand Union Canal consists of:

- Grand Union Main Line
- Grand Union Leicester Section
- River Soar
- Erewash Canal
- Northampton Arm
- Aylesbury Arm
- Wendover Arm
- Slough Arm
- Paddington Arm
- Regent’s Canal

Waterway Name: Grand Union Main Line Connected Points: The Grand Union Main Line links the River Thames in the south to the Tame Valley and Birmingham & Fazeley Canal at the northern end. As well as the arms and branches shown below it links to the North Oxford Canal at Braunston and the South Oxford Canal at Napton. It also has a junction with the Digbeth Branch of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal. Arms and branches from the Main Line: - Grand Union Leicester Section - Northampton Arm - Aylesbury Arm - Wendover Arm - Slough Arm - Paddington Arm - Regent’s Canal Type: Lock Date Opened: 01/01/1796 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   11/25/2014 ntpayne visited it