Foxton Staircase Locks and Inclined Plane.

The two sets of rate Staircase Locks at Foxton Locks, the remains of Foxton Inclined Plane and other bits and bobs from the Foxton area.

Where are Foxton Locks. Foxton Locks are located around 3 miles to the northwest of Market Harborough in the English County of Leicestershire - just a little way off the B6047 Kettering to Market Harborough road. There is a Long Stay car park on one side of the road or you can go into the Short Term (for up to 4 hours) British Waterways car park in their Country Park. Located on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal, Foxton boasts the largest set (two lots of 5 in fact) of staircase locks on the canal system in England and has to be a must see place to visit if you enjoy canals and related buildings etc.. The Foxton Locks area has been really smartened up - the paths are all in good condition, as mentioned there is lots of parking available, there are several canal side pubs at the bottom of the flight or you can get a cup of coffee if you wish by the lock-keepers cottage by Foxton Toplock. Foxton Locks old engine house now contains a small canal museum where amongst other things you can see a working model of the boat lift.

Below you will find quite a few photographs taken around Foxton Locks including the lock flight itself plus various bridges - also several pictures of where the inclined plane was located. Foxton inclined plane has so far not been restored but hopefully one day narrowboats may yet again have the facility available. At the moment the only way boats are able to continue along the Leicester Canal is to use the lock flight - these are narrow locks only able to accommodate one boat at a time and there is only a small basin between the two staircase flights. The Market Harborough Canal Arm leaves the Leicester Section at the bottom of Foxton Locks and heads off for around 5 miles to arrive at the really nice town of Market Harborough.

Bridge 60 - Gumley Roadbridge	Gumley Road Bridge	Foxton Top Lock 8	Foxton Lock 9	Footbridge going over Lock 9	The Lock Gates at Lock 10
Foxton Lock 11 leading to Lock 12	Foxton Lock 13 - part of the staircase locks	Foxton Lock 14 with a storage pond on the right	Trolley used during the building of the inclined plane	Site of the inclined plane showing the concrete base for the runners	Concrete base - inclined plane
Lock 16 with Bridge 61	Foxton's Staircase Locks	Lock 16 with Lock 15 behind it	Bridge 61 from Bottom Lock	Bridge 61	Foxton Bottom Lock 17

About Foxton Locks and Foxton Inclined Plane. The two sets of staircase locks were designed by Benjamin Bevin to take the canal down (or up) a total of 75 feet and comprise of two lots of 5 locks - these were built between 1810 and 1814. Staircase locks are different to normal canal locks as the intermediate locks share the same gates - the locks at Foxton are just 7 feet wide so cater for only one boat at a time - it can be a lengthy process traversing the flight. The canals were of course originally designed as highways for transporting goods around the country and because of the delays in getting through Foxton Locks in 1894 the Grand Junction Canal Company asked an engineer called Gordon Cale Thomas to find a solution to the bottlenecks.

Rainbow Bridge 62	Bridge into the Upper Side Arm - lower channel to the inclined plane	A pulley wheel - the pulleys were used to drag the tanks on the inclined plane	Bridge by the inclined plane	Bottom view of where the inclined plane was situated - top to bottom it's 75 feet

The result was the building of an inclined plane counter-balanced boat lift - two massive tanks which could each hold two narrow boats or one up to 10 foot wide barge. Once parked inside the tanks the guillotine gates would be closed trapping a tank full of water. Then a huge winding drum powered by a 25hp steam engine reeled in the upward moving tank using a heavy steel cable whilst simultaneously letting out the cable which was attached to a descending tank.

Feeder arm bridge	View looking up the Staircase Locks at Foxton	View down the inclined plane at Foxton	The old engine house at Foxton Locks	Foxton Lock 14 looking down the flight	Foxton Locks looking up the flight

The boat lift opened in 1900 but although the through-put of boats was much improved at Foxton Locks all that really happened was that the problem was pushed elsewhere - namely to the set of narrow staircase locks at Watford Gap. These locks at Watford gap were also meant to have be widened but it never happened and eventually the Boat Lift was closed in 1911 and everyone had to use the staircase locks again.

We have picked out a few Books about England - Churches, Canals and Rivers as well as walks in England and English Nature. The Nicholsons Waterways Guides are a "must take" for anyone going on a Canal Barge or Narrowboat holiday (as well as anyone visiting the canals) as they are packed with really useful information. If the development and history of our Canals is of particular interest consider the Anatomy of Canals series - really good reading!. (The relevant Nicholoson Guide covering The Market Harborough Arm is BOOK 3.)