Carpenter's Road Lock

Infobox Waterlock
lock_name = Carpenter's Road Lock


caption= Carpenter's Road Lock, seen from Marshgate Lane
waterway = Bow Back Rivers
county = Newham
Greater London
maint = British Waterways (defunct)
operation = automatic (derelict now)
first = 1931
latest =
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width =
fall = was tidal
sealevel =
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lat= 51.541774
long= -0.016437
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Carpenter's Road Lock is a rising radial lock in the London Borough of Newham, near Marshgate Lane in Stratford. This tidal lock was installed c. 1931, to allow navigation of the Bow Back Rivers between the Waterworks River and Old River Lee, as part of extensive flood prevention works. The lock supports an integral footbridge.

The 2012 Olympic stadium will be sited about convert|100|m|yd|0|lk=on south of the lock, on an island site between the Old River Lee and the City Mill River which branches just to the south of the lock.

The lock is currently derelict, but may be restored to use, as part of the Olympic site preparation. During the Olympic games, an immense land bridge will soar over the lock from Stratford City to the stadium.

The lock is unusual in being a pair of "rising radial gates"; this is where a section of a cylindrical surface forms the lock gate. The section is rotated into the lock bed to open the lock. This is used because the lock is tidal, and traditional gates would need to be of the bi-directional type – that is mounted in two pairs. It is not thought that another lock of this type exists within the British Waterways system.

The lock controlled access to the northern section of the City Mill River, the southern approach being controlled by the bottom lock. Two locks were needed as, when tidally controlled, there was insufficient headroom for barges passing beneath the Northern Outfall Sewer, which passes over the City Mill River.

External links

* [http://www.mike-stevens.co.uk/metrocuts/bowbacks/photos.htm "The Bow Back Rivers and Three Mills"] (Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages)
* [http://planning.london2012.com/upload/publicaccessODAlive/FigureB3_Existing_Control_Structures_v2%20(390).pdf "Control Structures within the Olympic and Legacy Facilities"] (Olympic Delivery Authority