Cromwell Lock is a large navigation lock on the

River Trent The Trent is the third Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, England. The first lock to be built on the site was constructed by the Trent Navigation Company, having been authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained in 1906. Construction began in late 1908, as soon as the Company had raised sufficient capital.''The Canals of the East Midlands'', (1970), p203, Charles Hadfield, David and Charles, The lock was extended in 1935, when an extra pair of gates were added downstream of the main lock, effectively forming a second lock. The lock was further improved in 1960, when the two locks were made into one, capable of holding eight standard Trent barges. Cromwell Weir by the side of the lock is one of the largest

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s on the Trent and marks the tidal limit of the river. The site is defined by the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

as the nearest tidal location to Coton in the Elms in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, which is the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain, located away. On 28 September 1975, during an eighty-mile, night navigation exercise in

extreme weather Extreme weather includes unexpected, unusual, severe weather, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Extreme events are based on a location's recorded weat ...

conditions, ten members of the 131 Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers were killed after a power failure caused the navigation lights on the weir to go out and their boat went over the crest. A memorial garden with a block of Scottish granite bearing the names of the men who died, lies next to the lock.

References

{{Authority control Locks of Nottinghamshire River Trent