Notes on the early technical development of European canal locks Mike Clarke 8 Green Bank Barnoldswick BB18 6HX
[email protected] 2011 1 Stockholm Edinburgh Belfast Newry Canal Dublin Liverpool Rivers Kennet Alster Navigation and Hamburg Thames Amsterdam River Havel Stecknitz Berlin Warsaw Canal River Spree London See inset Bruxelles Prague Paris Canal de Briare Strasbourg Spaarndam Amsterdam Montreuil-Bellay Vienna Gouda Tienhoven Munich Brielle BudapestVreeswijk Canal du Nivernais Damme Willebroeke Brugge Bruxelles Naviglio Grande Milan Venice Canal de Bereguard Governolo Belgrade 250 Km 250 Mi. Location of places mentioned in the text A view of a navigable staunch in East Anglia, England, showing a typical vertical lifting gateof a type which has been in use from the earliest days of navigable passages in river weirs and flood prevention embankments. Front cover: The lock at Montreuil-Bellay on the River Thouet in France has been converted from a flash lock into a chamber lock by the addition of side walls and a lower gate. 2 The Early Technical Development of European Canal Locks In Europe from the tenth century, lock construction On his flood protection embankments, sluices developed from two types of usage. The first was were used to control the passage of water from one land drainage associated with tidal and river flood side of the embankment to the other. They quickly defense. The earliest examples were built in the Low developed from simple lifting gates, or a flat valve in a Countries, especially in the area between Brussels tunnel to the gates controlling a passage wide enough and Amsterdam.