History

A barge lock constructed in 1817-18 by the engineer William Kirkhouse. It allowed vessels of up to 61 tonnes to lock out of the River Neath and reach Swansea by means of a canal cut in the 1780s that was superseded by the Tennant Canal, which opened in 1824.

Exterior

The lock chamber is composed of coursed rubble stone with large dressed coping stones. At the narrower NE (river) end are rebates for the lock gates, that survive partly in situ. Beyond the gates the walls curve outwards and terminate, with a later copper-slag wall added on the S side. The SW (canal) end of the lock chamber is similar, with rebates and the partial survival of the lock gates. Beyond the lock gates is a 2-span rubble-stone bridge with segmental arch ring above the entrance to the lock and a second arch on the S side over the canal built in the 1780s, of which a canal-side wall survives in part. Beyond the lock gates the lock walls curve outwards as they do on the NE side. A later rubble stone revetment is on the N side. The bridge retains its parapet with copper-slag coping only partly on the N side. On the SE side the parapet, with copper-slag coping, curves outwards and uphill. The deck is missing from the bridge and is covered with vegetation.

Reasons for Listing

Listed for industrial archaeological interest as a well-preserved early river lock.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29500236

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)