Crofton Locks

Crofton Locks are a flight of locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal, near the village of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, England. The canal was built and opened in stages between 1798 and 1810. Crofton Locks were part of the last stage to be started, from Pewsey and Great Bedwyn, and opened in 1810. Had John Rennie's original plans been followed, most of the flight would not have been built, as the canal would have been in tunnel at a lower level. To cope with the higher level of the revised plans, Crofton Pumping Station was constructed in 1809, to pump water from springs to Crofton Top Lock and the short summit pound of the canal. The first beam engine was supplemented by a second in 1812, and the first was replaced in 1846. They are now the oldest beam engines still working in their original locations. Water supply to the pumping station was increased in 1836 by constructing Wilton Water, a reservoir which is fed by local springs. Traffic through the locks virtually ceased by the 1920s, and the last known transit by a narrowboat was in 1951, just before the canal closed. Determined efforts by the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust, formed in 1961, aided by working parties from the Waterway Recovery Group resulted in restoration starting. Crofton Locks were reopened by the Vice Chairman of British Waterways in October 1988, 12 years later than first hoped, and the whole canal was formally reopened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1990. A major project to upgrade the pumping station, which normally uses electric pumps, was carried out between 2020 and 2023, but the beam engines are still steamed occasionally.