| Description | This canal lock forms part of the Bradford Canal, which was opened in 1774 to form a link with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Only the southern section of the lock now survives (Thornborrow, 1989). The lock has giant ashlar cappings, with long thin coursed hammer dressed stone and machine blue brick laid in irregular courses of headers and stretchers. A section some 12 ft to the west of the gates survives, with a rebate for gates some 8 ft to the east of the surviving oak gates. Five large battens are morticed and strapped to upright styles, with the circular top fixed into a metal collar, which in turn is attached to long curving metal straps that are counter sunk into the face of the cap stone and fixed with three bolts with square nuts.
The Act for making a navigable cut or canal from Bradford, to join the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Windhill, in the Township of Idle, in the County of York, was passed in 1771 (George III). On the 19th of July 1771 an agreement was made with John Knowles for digging the canal, which became an important element in the industrial expansion of Bradford, and the textile industry in particular.
Though only a fragment of the whole, the lock is thought to be the last surviving lock of the Bradford Canal, and as such, the only indicator of its former existence (Thornborrow, 1989). It was recommended in 1989 (Thornborrow) that this lock be Listed Grade II, however, there is no indication that this was carried through and it is thought to remain Unlisted. |