Wednesday, 14 June 2017

Carpenters Road Lock - All the info!

So today I took a few tours, actual and virtual of Carpenters Road Lock.

For the grand reopening of the lock (officially August 28), the Canal & River Trust have commissioned an ambitious project bringing together a mass of photographic, and audio visual material for visitors on a site designed for portable devices at crl.london

This is live now but still being updated and adapted as new material is found, and people's views taken into account.

This morning I took a tour of the site (within the barriers!) with a group of walking tour guides. And this afternoon I repeated the same tour with our towpath ranger volunteers.
Gantry with winding gear.
Enthusiastic volunteers helping to craft the tours.
Under diamond bridges.
Details of gantry, counterweight & winding gear.
Surprisingly, I felt our rangers were more critical and had more useful stuff to add to the site than the walking guides. I think perhaps that our relatively shallow knowledge of the history of the location lead us to ask better questions about the website design and about Carpenters Road Lock in general.

The question that seemed most important came from one of ours: "Why is this lock here? And why is it important to restore it?"

The short answer, incidentally and as I understand it now, is:

The lock made the Waterworks River (above the lock) accessible for transport of goods, as it controlled the tidal water and flood levels below and above it. And that same reason is why it's been restored - only a few hundred yards away Stratford International rail station lies below ground and at risk of flooding if the Lea rises too far (in a torrential flood) - Carpenters Road Lock is part of the flood relief scheme that would help dump that flood water down to the Thames.



Also, mid-morning, I was asked to check on the rubbish situation at Old Ford Lock 19. As both the tours took me past here, that wasn't too difficult.

The rubbish left there had beed collected by the Trust's contractors, but within hours more rubbish had been fly-tipped here. This exasperating situation will, I hope, be controlled a bit better when there is a permanent volunteer presence on-site!
The ongoing rubbish problem at Old Ford Locks 19.

4 informative hours.



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Location: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London E20 2ST, UK

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous15 June 2017 at 08:20

    Thanks - an interesting site!

    Is the bit about flood defence right? The reference to the Waterworks being tidal is a bit out of date, of course. Surely if the Lea is in flood the level in Waterworks rises, and this lock (and City Mill) stop water getting through to the west ie to the Lea navigation. I don't think it's envisaged that flood waters would go through the lock, not least as there isn't really anywhere for it to then go (other than to fill up the Limehouse cut etc)?
    Simon

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    1. Giles15 June 2017 at 13:27

      I was assured that the lock would be used (opening automatically) to prevent extreme high flood waters on the Lea.

      As well as water over the sluices at City Mill and Three Mills (Prescott Channel), water would also be routed down from Carpenters Road Lock into the Lee Navigation, and exit into Bow Creek via the sluices behind Three Mills House Mill, Bow Locks, and (in extremis) Limehouse Lock.

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  2. AndyO15 June 2017 at 08:43

    I thought it (Carpenters Road Lock) just connected the navigation to the (now) semi-tidal section of the Lee above Three Mills Lock and the Weir by the Moorings at Thee Mills, as does City Mill lock; the radial gates are an alternative to having two opposing mitre gates as employed at City Mill Lock.

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    1. Anonymous18 June 2017 at 23:13

      That's what I had assumed too, and that City Mill is not used to move significant volumes of water (in either direction).

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    2. Giles18 June 2017 at 23:22

      To be honest, I'm not sure if City Mill Sluice (alongside, but separate from the lock) is currently in service. But it has been used in this way (to move water) in the past.

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  3. lucvh15 June 2017 at 09:29

    Nice to see the C&RT continue to spend tens of thousands of their customers money on facilities most will never get to use, while spending little to nothing on the provision of mooring & waste facilities, which are obviously under provisioned.

    You would have thought some facility & land management skills would exist in the C&RT, but it appears not.

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    1. Giles15 June 2017 at 13:50

      Improvements to moorings at Sweetwater and facilities at Old Ford Locks 19 are part of this program.

      A considerable part of the money for this restoration has come from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the London Legacy Development Corporation as well as a substantial donation from the IWA.

      It's also expected that having a few more miles of navigable waterway in the heart of a major tourist attraction will also increase awareness of the Trust and encourage more charitable income.

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  4. Unknown15 June 2017 at 09:39

    It was financed by grants, not CRT money.

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