Grafton Lock is a lock on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England. It is on the northern bank between

Kelmscott Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census reco ...

and

Radcot Radcot Bridge is a crossing of the Thames in England, south of Radcot, Oxfordshire, and north of Faringdon, Oxfordshire which is in the district of that county that was in Berkshire. It carries the A4095 road across the reach above Radcot Loc ...

, about south of the hamlet of

Grafton Grafton may refer to: Places Australia * Grafton, New South Wales Canada * Grafton, New Brunswick * Grafton, Nova Scotia * Grafton, Ontario England * Grafton, Cheshire * Grafton, Herefordshire *Grafton, North Yorkshire * Grafton, Oxfordshi ...

. The lock was built by the

Thames Conservancy The Thames Conservancy (formally the Conservators of the River Thames) was a body responsible for the management of the that river in England. It was founded in 1857 to replace the jurisdiction of the City of London up to Staines. Nine years la ...

in 1896. The weir is on the other side of the lock island at the upstream end. Grafton Lock Meadow at the lock is a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

History

There was previously a weir with a

flash lock A flash lock is a type of lock for river or canal transport. Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times. Developme ...

on the site known variously as Day's, East, New Lock or Lower Hart's. The name Lower Hart's was to avoid confusion with another Hart's Weir upstream which was eventually replaced by

Eaton Footbridge Eaton Footbridge is a wooden footbridge across the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It is situated on the reach above Grafton Lock. The bridge was built in 1936 on the site of the last flash lock A flash lock is a type of lock for rive ...

in 1936. The Thames Conservancy removed the weir in 1869. The first suggestion for a permanent pound lock was made in 1892, four years before it opened.

Access to the lock

The lock can be reached on foot along the river or by road on a turning off Langley Lane which connects to the A4095.

Reach above the lock

On the southern bank the river passes

Eaton Hastings Eaton Hastings is a village and civil parish beside the River Thames about two-and-a-half miles (4 km) north-west of Faringdon. It was in Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Eaton Hastings was once larg ...

. On the north bank is Kelmscott and Kelmscott Manor, the country retreat of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

. Further upstream the river is crossed by

There are moorings at this point reflecting the history of the site which had a weir and flash lock until 1936. The Thames Path follows the northern bank to Buscot Lock.

References

Sources

External links