Caen Hill Flight of Locks

This flight was John Rennie the Elder's solution to climbing a steep hill and, in 1810, was the last part of the 87 mi route of the Kennet and Avon navigation, commenced in 1796, between Bristol and Reading, to be opened. A brickyard had been established to the south of the site for the manufacture of bricks for the lock chambers. This remained in viable commercial use until the middle of the 20th century. John Blackwell oversaw the locks' construction as Rennie's site agent. Between 1801 and 1810, a tramway had provided a trade link between Foxhangers at the bottom and Devizes at the top, the remains of which can be seen in the towpath arches of the road bridges over the canal. In the…

The 29 locks have a rise of 237 feet in 2 miles ( in ) or a 1 in 44 gradient. The locks come in three groups: the lower seven locks (nos 22 to 28), from Foxhangers Wharf to Upper Foxhangers Bridge, are spread over 3/4 mi; the next sixteen locks (nos 29 to 44) form a steep flight in a straight line up the hillside and are designated as a scheduled monument and are also known as one of the Seven Wonders of the Waterways. Because of the steepness of the terrain, the pounds between these locks are very short. As a result, fifteen of them have unusually large sideways-extended pounds, to store the water needed to operate them. A final six locks (nos 45 to 50) take the canal into Devizes. The…