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. Foxton is 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 (currently UKstg1.50 to park all day) or you can go into the Short Term (for up to 4 hours and currently costing UKstg2.0) British Waterways car park in their Country Park. 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 Toplock. The old engine house now contains a small canal museum where amongst other things you can see a working model of the boat lift.
Our topic shows 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. This has so far not been restored but hopefully one day boats may yet again have the facility available. At the moment the only way 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. A Canal Arm leaves the main canal at Foxton and heads off for around 5 miles to arrive at the really nice town of Market Harborough - we have quite a few photos of the Market Harborough Canal Arm including all of the bridges along the route - there are no locks. The towpath all the way is in excellent condition and fine for walkers and cyclists. Rather than walk back to Foxton it is possible to go across country to make a really nice circular walk - which includes a brief visit into Lubenham to see it's church and some very old buildings.
About Foxton and It's Locks and 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.
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. The boat lift opened in 1900 but although the throughput of boats was much improved at Foxton all that really happened was that the problem was pushed elsewhere - namely to the set of narrow staircase locks at Watford Gap (see our photos here). These locks at Watford gap were also meant to be widened but it never happened and eventually the Boat Lift was closed in 1911 and everyone had to use the staircase locks again.
The Market Harborough Canal Arm. This five mile long Arm leaves the Leicester Line from the bottom of Foxton Locks and wanders through the countryside to arrive at Market Harborough - and we do mean "wanders" - it follows the contours and is nearly as bendy as the older Oxford Canal.
Completed in 1809 the original idea was to continue the Arm from Market
Harborough on through to Northampton - it never happened. There are no locks on
this generally quite wide Arm - the towpath is really well surfaced and excellent for either cyclists
or walkers. The following walk goes from Foxton Lock-keepers cottage down the
flight then along the Arm to Market Harborough - then back across country to
Foxton - just a little bit of hill climbing around Lubenham and a total walk of around 10 miles.
From the Gumley Road car park a path takes you the short
distance down to the Leicester Canal at bridge 60 - cross the bridge onto the
towpath and turn right towards the Foxton Lock Flight and the Toplock.
Obviously you may well spend some time wandering around the area but once ready for the
walk go to the bottom of the lock flight and the canal junction - the Leicester
Canal goes off half left and the Arm goes off to the right - you need to be on
the Arm's far towpath and you can get to this by crossing over Rainbow bridge
(62).
There is nothing complicated about this walk to Market Harborough - just a
case of enjoying the lovely countryside and enjoying the old bridges and
buildings you pass on the way.
You can divert off the canal at Bridge 3 to take a look at Foxton's nice old
church (St Andrew's) - also a little way past Bridge 8 (Gallows Hill bridge) remember to look
back from where the canal bends to the right for an excellent view of warehouses
and also a nice high brick chimney.
When you reach Bowden Hall Bridge it's worth just popping up to the road
where
there are some really nice old buildings/warehouses as well as the Hall itself. The canal does
bend around quite a lot and manages to make a quite tight twist just after Bridge 14 (Wooden
Stepbridge) as it gets more into Market Harborough. Just after this really tight bend on
the canal and where it straightens up take note of a footpath on the right - you
will use this later.
The basin at Market Harborough is really nice - all the warehouses and old buildings have been renovated and are now being used as a mixture of flats, small shops and so on - there is quite a bit of seating and it is a great spot especially if the sun is out
The walk continues by returning back along the canal and then taking the previously noted path leaving the towpath between fences on the left which quickly brings you onto Logan Crescent. Turn right then take the next right onto Knoll Street which you follow to the bottom of the hill. Turn left along Gardiner Street and follow the road along looking out for a signposted footpath on the right which goes between a brick wall and fence. This brings you onto Brookfield Road, turn right and shortly turn left into Hill Gardens then go right along The Pastures at the top of which you will find the start of a footpath. Follow the path alongside houses and then to a field - go almost straight ahead across the field aiming for a single oak tree and a marker post - from here there are orange marker posts showing the route.
Continue across the next field to a road - turn right and cross the road - very shortly take a path leaving on the left. This marked path crosses fields and eventually joins a small road on the edge of Lubenham. Turn left and follow the road round to the church. Walk through the churchyard and out onto Rushes Lane at the far side - turn right and then stay on this lane as it passes several old buildings and eventually reaches a main road. Cross the main road onto the road opposite (The Green) and then go left and looking out for and taking a footpath on the right. Follow the footpath and when it splits take the left fork - continue across the fields and eventually through a small wooded area to reach Foxton Road by a small farm. Cross the road and take the footpath opposite. This path crosses fields and arrives at Holme's Farm. The path continues across several small fields but when we walk it these were all enclosed with electric fences - far easier to go right along the track and then shortly take the track on the left. Just before reaching the pond go right across fields and follow the marker posts - when you come to a clump of trees (marked on the map as the site of a dis-used camp) in a dip the path splits - take the left fork and then continue across more fields to eventually arrive back at the canal by Bridge 60.
Please see our Home Page for many other items about England including 100s of English Church Photos, wildflowers, toadstools and quite a few walks to try some of which involve using canal towpaths. Also take a look towards the bottom of our Home Page where there are links to our other travel sites about The Canary Islands, Cyprus, Portugal's Algarve, The Greek Islands and Athens, Egypt, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangkok, Bali and several other Indonesian Holiday Islands. Visit our Resources topic if you wish to Email Us and/or to see our site privacy policy.