Ufton Lock was built in c.1834, making it the last lock on the waterway to be built.[nb 1] It was engineered by John Blackwell, who had dug a new 600-yard (550m)cut to avoid the meandering River Kennet between Padworth and Sulhamstead.[1] The lock's depth was just 1foot 9inches (0.53m),[2] which was to improve the head of water at Towney Lock, 0.6 miles (0.97km) upstream.[1] When the waterway was restored in the 1960s, restoring the shallow lock was deemed unpractical and instead the rebuilt Towney Lock was deepened to cater for the difference in level.[3] The lock gates were removed, although the chamber masonry and bollards have been retained as a landing stage for the adjacent swing bridge.[4]
↑Many locks were rebuilt during the canal's restoration (some of which, such as Towney and Burghfield, were restored directly up- or downstream of their original chamber). County Lock was moved to the opposite riverbank in the 1880s.
References
12Clew, Kenneth (1968). The Kennet & Avon Canal: an illustrated history (2nded.). David & Charles. p.89.
