Bath Locks () are a series of

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

, now six locks, situated at the start of the

Kennet and Avon Canal The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cent ...

, at

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Bath Bottom Lock, which is numbered as No 7 on the canal, is the meeting with the River Avon just south of

Pulteney Bridge Pulteney Bridge is a bridge over the River Avon in Bath, England. It was completed by 1774, and connected the city with the land of the Pulteney family which it wished to develop. Designed by Robert Adam in a Palladian style, it is highly unu ...

. Alongside the lock is a side pond and pumping station which pumps water up the locks to replace that used each time the lock is opened. The next stage of Bath Deep Lock is numbered 8/9 as two locks were combined when the canal was restored in 1976. A road constructed while the canal was in a state of disrepair passes over the original site of the lower lock. The new chamber has a depth of , making it Britain's second deepest canal lock.

Just above the 'deep lock' is an area of water enabling the lock to refill and above this is Wash House Lock (number 10), and soon after by Abbey View Lock (number 11), a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

by which there is another pumping station and in quick succession Pulteney Lock (12) and Bath top Lock (13). Clevelandhouse

Above the top lock the canal passes through

Sydney Gardens Sydney Gardens (originally known as Bath Vauxhall Gardens) is a public open space at the end of Great Pulteney Street in Bath, Somerset, England. The gardens are the only remaining eighteenth-century pleasure (or "Vauxhall") gardens in the coun ...

where it passes through two tunnels and under two cast iron footbridges dating from 1800. Cleveland tunnel is long and runs under Cleveland House, the former headquarters of the Kennet and Avon Canal Company. The tunnel is a Grade II* listed building. Many of the bridges over the canal are also listed buildings. The locks were restored in 1968 by a collaboration involving staff from

British Waterways British Waterways, often shortened to BW, was a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom. It served as the navigation authority for the majority of canals and a number of rivers and docks in England, Scotland ...

and volunteer labour organised by the

Kennet and Avon Canal Trust The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust is a Charitable organization, registered charity and waterway society concerned with the protection and maintenance of the Kennet and Avon Canal throughout Wiltshire and Berkshire. History In 1951, the Kennet a ...

References

See also