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101-529: Dingwalls Dancehall (original name at time of opening) is a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock , Camden in London . The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings which were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, T.E. Dingwall, had his name painted on to the outside wall of the building, which was a common practice by businesses in Camden Town during

202-718: A flash lock . Pound locks were first used in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE), having been pioneered by the Song politician and naval engineer Qiao Weiyue in 984. They replaced earlier double slipways that had caused trouble and are mentioned by the Chinese polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) in his book Dream Pool Essays (published in 1088), and fully described in the Chinese historical text Song Shi (compiled in 1345): The distance between

303-404: A river more easily navigable, or to allow a canal to cross land that is not level. Later canals used more and larger locks to allow a more direct route to be taken. A pound lock is most commonly used on canals and rivers today. A pound lock has a chamber with gates at both ends that control the level of water in the pound. In contrast, an earlier design with a single gate was known as

404-455: A 25-year lease. The lease was bought by Northside Developments, a limited company which had been formed by Bill Fulford and Peter Wheeler, and had previously been involved in turning large houses into flats in south London. Their proposal for the yard was to create workshops, where people worked and sold their produce. They also hoped the development would include a restaurant and cinema. They approached Camden Council, who had wanted to bulldoze

505-417: A Victorian style retail hall, which would provide indoor accommodation for some of the market. A four-storey building was erected, fronting Chalk Farm Road, and the space between it and Dingwalls, which had been the site of the original market in the 1970s, was covered by a glazed cast iron and brick structure the designs for which were based on a Victorian gas showroom. Dingwalls Dance Hall was refurbished, and

606-528: A broad canal for more than one boat to be in a staircase at the same time, but managing this without waste of water requires expertise. On English canals, a staircase of more than two chambers is usually staffed: the lockkeepers at Bingley (looking after both the "5-rise" and the "3-rise") ensure that there are no untoward events and that boats are moved through as speedily and efficiently as possible. Such expertise permits miracles of boat balletics: boats travelling in opposite directions can pass each other halfway up

707-540: A comedy club was built in the East Yard. The second phase of redevelopment began after the bridge sign had been painted. In January 1990 the mural was awarded an environment award by the Evening Standard , which declared it to be "a credit to London". Despite the increased timescales and costs of doing so, Northside attempted to redevelop the East Yard without closing the market, in order to retain its vibrancy. The work

808-399: A five-week Festival of Entertainment, a Clock Festival, and Gerry Cottle 's Circus was also booked. British Rail carried out repairs to the railway bridge over Chalk Farm Road in the mid-1980s, and when the work was completed, the hoardings were not replaced. After long negotiations, Northside were granted permission to paint the bridge in 1989, and employed mural artist John Bulley to paint

909-426: A flight of locks is simply a series of locks in close-enough proximity to be identified as a single group. For many reasons, a flight of locks is preferable to the same number of locks spread more widely: crews are put ashore and picked up once, rather than multiple times; transition involves a concentrated burst of effort, rather than a continually interrupted journey; a lock keeper may be stationed to help crews through

1010-420: A live set during an evening which lasts till two"... "late enough for most people" (those were the days!) - and "excellent bands are to be found there". Music was first managed by former Hendrix road manager Howard 'H' Parker. Following Parker's death, Dave 'The Boss' Goodman, who also doubled as chef and DJ, took over from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s. At some point in the 1980s, it ceased to present live shows -

1111-480: A lock is simple. For instance, if a boat travelling downstream finds the lock already full of water: If the lock were empty, the boat would have had to wait 5 to 10 minutes while the lock was filled. For a boat travelling upstream, the process is reversed; the boat enters the empty lock, and then the chamber is filled by opening a valve that allows water to enter the chamber from the upper level. The whole operation will usually take between 10 and 20 minutes, depending on

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1212-523: A lock, and the position of the forward edge of the cill is usually marked on the lock side by a white line. The edge of the cill is usually curved, protruding less in the center than at the edges. In some locks, there is a piece of oak about 9 in (23 cm) thick which protects the solid part of the lock cill. On the Oxford Canal it is called a babbie; on the Grand Union Canal it is referred to as

1313-563: A military engineer who was later knighted, proposed the use of hydropneumatic boat lifts instead of locks. Various designs of a similar nature had been tried in the early 19th century, notably at Mells on the Dorset and Somerset Canal and at Tardebigge on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal , but none had proved successful. Congreve's design used two water-filled caissons, which were moved up and down by hand, assisted by compressed air trapped beneath

1414-649: A number of art installations in the area, including a large cut-steel sculpture by English artist Edward Dutkiewicz in the square beside the lock. Camden and the Lock have become known for artwork in recent years. Banksy and King Robbo are both known to have used the wider Camden area to display graffiti. It was also the site of an ongoing feud between the two artists, which lasted from 2009 until 2014. The London Waterbus Company waterbus service operates from Camden Lock, heading westwards around Regent's Park , calling at London Zoo and ending at Little Venice . Three of

1515-658: A prominent and popular London live music venue in the pub rock and Punk rock era of the mid to late 1970s. Nevertheless, the booking policy was eclectic, finding time for visiting US acts such as Etta James and Blondie in 1978 and The Drifters and R.E.M. in 1983. In the 21st century artists performing at Dingwalls have included: James Bay , You Me At Six , Modestep , Noel Gallagher , The Posies , Imagine Dragons , Red Hot Chili Peppers , Sigma , Stereophonics , George Ezra , Ellie Goulding , The Darkness , Gallows , Foo Fighters , American Blues singer Beth Hart and, in 2011, 'Venison' (a pseudonym of The Strokes , for

1616-480: A staircase lock can be used as an emergency dry dock). To avoid these mishaps, it is usual to have the whole staircase empty before starting to descend, or full before starting to ascend, apart from the initial chamber. One striking difference in using a staircase of either type (compared with a single lock, or a flight) is the best sequence for letting boats through. In a single lock (or a flight with room for boats to pass) boats should ideally alternate in direction. In

1717-404: A staircase, however, it is quicker for a boat to follow a previous one going in the same direction. Partly for this reason staircase locks such as Grindley Brook, Foxton, Watford and Bratch are supervised by lockkeepers, at least during the main cruising season, they normally try to alternate as many boats up, followed by down as there are chambers in the flight. As with a flight, it is possible on

1818-400: A tunnel, which when descending does not become visible until the chamber is nearly empty. A pound is the level stretch of water between two locks (also known as a reach ). The cill , also spelled sill , is a narrow horizontal ledge protruding a short way into the chamber from below the upper gates. Allowing the rear of the boat to "hang" on the cill is the main danger when descending

1919-450: A venue for punk rock bands. Northside next obtained permission to run a Saturday antiques market in January 1974. It would run through the summer months of that year only, with a maximum of 60 stalls, set out in the yard and in a corrugated iron shed. When it opened, there were 12 stallholders, but this soon increased to 30. Better access to the canal towpath was created by knocking a hole in

2020-426: Is a normal top gate, and the intermediate gates are all as tall as the bottom gate). As there is no intermediate pound, a chamber can only be filled by emptying the one above, or emptied by filling the one below: thus the whole staircase has to be full of water (except for the bottom chamber) before a boat starts to ascend, or empty (except for the top chamber) before a boat starts to descend. In an "apparent" staircase

2121-451: Is a smaller 100 capacity intimate live music venue in the canal bar which regularly puts on unsigned artists. First launched as the newly developed Camden Lock's flagship venue in the summer of 1973. The Natural Acoustic Band performed five times between July and November 1973. Dingwalls Dancehall was open to all-"reasonably priced at half a bar for entry", providing the longest bar in London (at

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2222-443: Is only a staircase if successive lock chambers share a gate (i.e. do not have separate top and bottom gates with a pound between them). Most flights are not staircases, because each chamber is a separate lock (with its own upper and lower gates), there is a navigable pound (however short) between each pair of locks, and the locks are operated in the conventional way. However, some flights include (or consist entirely of) staircases. On

2323-559: Is the change in water-level in the lock. The two deepest locks on the English canal system are Bath deep lock on the Kennet and Avon Canal and Tuel Lane Lock on the Rochdale Canal , which both have a rise of nearly 20 feet (6.1 m). Both locks are amalgamations of two separate locks, which were combined when the canals were restored to accommodate changes in road crossings. By comparison,

2424-846: The Bollène lock on the River Rhône has a fall of at least 23 m (75 ft), the Leerstetten, Eckersmühlen and Hilpoltstein locks on the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal have a fall of 24.67 m (80.9 ft), each and the Oskemen Lock on the Irtysh River in Kazakhstan has a drop of 42 m (138 ft). The natural extension of the flash lock , or staunch, was to provide an upper gate (or pair of gates) to form an intermediate "pound" which

2525-470: The Grand Union . Operation of a staircase is more involved than a flight. Inexperienced boaters may find operating staircase locks difficult. The key worries (apart from simply being paralysed with indecision) are either sending down more water than the lower chambers can cope with (flooding the towpath, or sending a wave along the canal) or completely emptying an intermediate chamber (although this shows that

2626-596: The Milan canal system sponsored by Francesco Sforza ) between 1452 and 1458. In Ancient Egypt, the river-locks was probably part of the Canal of the Pharaohs : Ptolemy II is credited by some for being the first to solve the problem of keeping the Nile free of salt water when his engineers invented the lock around 274/273 BC. All pound locks have three elements: The principle of operating

2727-581: The Song dynasty (960–1279 CE). The Songshi or History of the Song Dynasty, volume 307, biography 66, records how Qiao Weiyue, a high-ranking tax administrator, was frustrated at the frequent losses incurred when his grain barges were wrecked on the West River near Huai'an in Jiangsu . The soldiers at one double slipway, he discovered, had plotted with bandits to wreck heavy imperial barges so that they could steal

2828-491: The 1976 Conservation Awards run by The Times newspaper and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors , the market came joint third. By the early 1980, the market consisted of nearly 200 stalls, which were occupied by around 100 regular stallholders and many temporary ones. It attracted around 11,000 visitors each weekend. In addition, there were 39 businesses based in the craft workshops. Northside now decided that it

2929-664: The Carrapatelo and Valeira locks on the Douro river in Portugal, which are 279 feet (85 m) long and 39 feet (12 m) wide, have maximum lifts of 115 and 108 feet (35 and 33 m) respectively. The two Ardnacrusha locks near Limerick on the Shannon navigation in Ireland have a rise of 100 feet (30 m). The upper chamber rises 60 feet (18 m) and is connected to the lower chamber by

3030-460: The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, the lockkeepers were required to remove the windlasses from all lock paddles at night, to prevent unauthorized use. A swell was caused by opening suddenly the paddle valves in the lock gates, or when emptying a lock. To help boats traveling downstream exit a lock, the locksman would sometimes open the paddles to create a swell, which would help "flush" the boat out of

3131-614: The Eastern Horse Tunnel. A Western Horse Tunnel was also built to link the goods depot to new stables near the present Gloucester Avenue , to the west of the mainline tracks. In 1864, the LNWR built a new goods shed, at the time the largest in the country, and in 1876, additional stables were built to the north of Gloucester Avenue. Access to the Western Horse Tunnel was by a set of horse stairs, which have survived. The LNWR good shed

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3232-552: The Grand Union (Leicester) Canal, the Watford flight consists of a four-chamber staircase and three separate locks; and the Foxton flight consists entirely of two adjacent 5-chamber staircases. Where a very steep gradient has to be climbed, a lock staircase is used. There are two types of staircase, "real" and "apparent". A "real" staircase can be thought of as a "compressed" flight, where

3333-470: The advent of canals in Britain. The sides of the turf-lock are sloping so, when full, the lock is quite wide. Consequently, this type of lock needs more water to operate than vertical-sided brick- or stone-walled locks. On British canals and waterways most turf-sided locks have been subsequently rebuilt in brick or stone, and so only a few good examples survive, such as at Garston Lock , and Monkey Marsh Lock , on

3434-431: The area was blighted by the proposed London Motorway Box , which would have seen much of the canal culverted, and a sliproad built over the site of the locks. To the north of the lock was a wharf, owned by British Waterways, but rented out to Dingwall's since 1946. The company made packing cases, but their business had been hit by the change to containers, and in 1971 they decided to sell up. They had about ten years left on

3535-573: The boat entered the lock. Pulling on the rope slowed the boat, due to the friction of the rope against the post. A rope 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (6.4 cm) in diameter and about 60 feet (18 meters) long was typically used on the Erie Canal to snub a boat in a lock. One incident, which took place in June 1873 on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, involved the boat the Henry C. Flagg and its drunk captain. That boat

3636-463: The bottom cill at all but the higher tides – the new bottom chamber rises just far enough to get the boat over the original lock cill. In China, the recently completed Three Gorges Dam includes a double five-step staircase for large ships, and a ship lift for vessels of less than 3000 metric tons. Examples of "apparent" staircases are Foxton Locks and Watford Locks on the Leicester Branch of

3737-617: The canal would cause frequent interruptions of the heavy road traffic. It can be emptied by pumping – but as this uses a lot of electricity the method used when water supplies are adequate is to drain the lock to a nearby burn . In 2016 the Kieldrecht Lock in the Port of Antwerp in Belgium took over the title of the world's largest lock from the Berendrecht Lock in the same port and still has

3838-449: The chambers made of brick and stone coping along the top. The two locks are arranged side by side, with an island platform between them. Each chamber has two gates at both ends, and they have been Grade II listed since 1992 (this is the initial, most common category of listing). They were the first of 12 pairs of similar locks which dropped the level of the canal by 96 feet (29 m) to reach Limehouse Basin. The transfer of water between

3939-406: The chambers made operation of the locks more complex, and so they were permanently manned during the heyday of the canal, with lock-keepers working a shift system to provide 24-hour cover. As the use of the canal declined, in part due to railway competition, manning levels were reduced, and padlocks were used to prevent operation of the locks at the weekends. Following the end of commercial traffic and

4040-538: The chambers so that some water from the emptying chamber helps to fill the other. This facility has long been withdrawn on the English canals, although the disused paddle gear can sometimes be seen, as at Hillmorton on the Oxford Canal . Elsewhere they are still in use; a pair of twinned locks was opened in 2014 on the Dortmund–Ems Canal near Münster , Germany. The once-famous staircase at Lockport, New York ,

4141-617: The chambers still have common gates, but the water does not pass directly from one chamber to the next, going instead via side ponds. This means it is not necessary to ensure that the flight is full or empty before starting. Examples of famous "real" staircases in England are Bingley and Grindley Brook . Two-rise staircases are more common: Snakeholme Lock and Struncheon Hill Lock on the Driffield Navigation were converted to staircase locks after low water levels hindered navigation over

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4242-404: The chance of a boat finding a lock set in its favour. There can also be water savings: the locks may be of different sizes, so that a small boat does not need to empty a large lock; or each lock may be able to act as a side pond (water-saving basin) for the other. In this latter case, the word used is usually "twinned": here indicating the possibility of saving water by synchronising the operation of

4343-548: The cill bumper. Some canal operation authorities, primarily in the United States and Canada, call the ledge a miter sill (mitre sill in Canada). Gates are the watertight doors which seal off the chamber from the upper and lower pounds. Each end of the chamber is equipped with a gate, or pair of half-gates, traditionally made of oak or elm but now usually made of steel ). The most common arrangement, usually called miter gates ,

4444-514: The concept has been suggested in a number of cases, the only example in the world of a drop lock that has actually been constructed is at Dalmuir on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland. This lock, of the single-chamber type, was incorporated during the restoration of the canal, to allow the replacement of a swing bridge (on a busy A road) by a fixed bridge, and so answer criticisms that the restoration of

4545-411: The craft units had become retail shops, and there was a problem with the large amount of litter that the market produced. Northside's lease only ran to the end of the 1980s, and so they proposed a £10 million redevelopment, jointly managed by UK Land Limited. They promised new shops, a new pub, and a new market yard, which would be open throughout the week, rather than just at weekends. The plans included

4646-491: The deck was also replaced. The towpath is on the northern bank of the canal at this point, and is carried over the entrance to a dock which formed part of Camden Goods Depot by a cast iron single span bridge with stone capped abutments. It was constructed by J Deeley and Co, of Newport in Monmouthshire between 1848 and 1856. The granite setts which form the approach ramps were taken up and relaid in 1978. Camden Goods Depot

4747-521: The existing buildings into craft workshops. No new buildings were erected, as the whole area was still scheduled for demolition. By mid-1972, parts of the West Yard were ready to be used as workshops, and businesses began to occupy them. An official opening was held on 4 April 1973, with the Mayor of Camden presiding, and this was followed by a three-day display of work by the fifty people who were by then occupying

4848-425: The flight quickly; and where water is in short supply, a single pump can recycle water to the top of the whole flight. The need for a flight may be determined purely by the lie of the land, but it is possible to group locks purposely into flights by using cuttings or embankments to "postpone" the height change. Examples: Caen Hill locks, Devizes . "Flight" is not synonymous with "Staircase" (see below). A set of locks

4949-512: The form of the now-disused Écluse des Lorraines , connecting the Canal latéral à la Loire with the River Allier . A drop lock can consist of two conventional lock chambers leading to a sump pound, or a single long chamber incorporating the sump – although the term properly applies only to the second case. As the pounds at either end of the structure are at the same height, the lock can only be emptied either by allowing water to run to waste from

5050-571: The four boats in use in 2016 were historic vessels on the National Register of Historic Ships . The canal tow path is open to pedestrians and cyclists, offering a direct route to Camden Lock from East London, Paddington and West London. The nearest London Underground stations are Camden Town and Chalk Farm , both on the Northern line . The nearest London Overground station is Camden Road station . Twin lock Locks are used to make

5151-408: The goods depot was completed in 1839. Major features were a stationary winding engine house, which was used to pull trains up the incline from Euston to Camden, a shed for stabling of locomotives, 18 coke ovens which were used to make smokeless fuel, two goods sheds, stables for 50 horses, a wagon repair shop, and various ancillary buildings. Much of the site was supported on brick vaults. Pickfords ,

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5252-468: The goods depot was necessary to cope with the volumes of traffic. This took place between 1854 and 1856, and included the enlargement and realignment of the canal basin. When completed, it was 210 by 45 feet (64 by 14 m) with railway tracks on both sides running to the edge of the canal. Four new stable blocks were built next to the Hampstead Road, and the complex was linked to the marshalling yards by

5353-532: The goods depot, the winding engine house, the Roundhouse, the eastern portal of Primrose Hill railway tunnel, and the canal, represent one of the most important groupings of 19th-century transport infrastructure to have survived in Britain. The survival of the horse tunnel and stairs shows the importance of horse-drawn transport in the developing railway system. Commercial traffic on the Regent's Canal had almost ceased by

5454-423: The growth of leisure boating, the locks reverted to operation by boat crews, and in order to prevent flooding caused by incorrect operation of the paddles, in the 1980s most of the pairs were converted to single locks, by replacing the lower gates of one chamber with a fixed weir. Hampstead Road Lock is the only one where both chambers have been retained, although they are now emptied conventionally. In November 2013,

5555-414: The intermediate pounds have disappeared, and the upper gate of one lock is also the lower gate of the one above it. However, it is incorrect to use the terms staircase and flight interchangeably: because of the absence of intermediate pounds, operating a staircase is very different from operating a flight. It can be more useful to think of a staircase as a single lock with intermediate levels (the top gate

5656-430: The investment into smaller packets. The plans included workshops, restaurants, sculpture studios, a snack bar, a mooring area for canal boats, and an office. The lease was soon extended to run until 1980, but Northside were refused permission to run a market on Saturdays in the yard and on Commercial Place, the road from which access to the site was gained. On a very limited budget of £5,000, Northside set about converting

5757-413: The late Victorian era . The paint is still visible to this day, hence the venue's name. The 500-capacity venue was bought by promoter Vince Power in June 2020 and continues to host gigs of contemporary music. It was renamed and reopened as The PowerHaus after a copyright issue blocked the use of its original name. Power now has use of the name again and the building has returned to being Dingwalls. There

5858-458: The late 1960s, and the area had become run down. Much of the industry had moved away, partly as a result of the passing of the Clean Air Act 1956 , but also helped by government grants to encourage companies to move away from the city. The area around Hampstead Road Locks was populated by disused warehouses, derelict land and a towpath which desperately needed some repairs to be made. In addition,

5959-478: The lock 1B (by the market) was fully drained for maintenance; the public were invited for the weekend of the 16th and 17th of that month to see the infrastructure for themselves. A similar operation was carried out on lock 1A in 2016. The lock is to the west of the Camden High Street road bridge. When the canal was built, the road was carried over it by a brick bridge, but this was found to be inadequate, and

6060-403: The lock gates could be replaced and the boat removed from the lock. To economise, especially where good stone would be prohibitively expensive or difficult to obtain, composite locks were made, i.e. they were constructed using rubble or inferior stone, dressing the inside walls of the lock with wood, so as not to abrade the boats. This was done, for instance, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with

6161-403: The lock. A boatsman might ask for a back swell, that is, to open and shut the paddles a few times to create some waves, to help him get off the bank where he was stuck. If boats ran aground (from being overloaded) they sometimes asked passing crews to tell the upstream lock to give them an extra heavy swell, which consisted of opening all the paddles on the lock gate, creating a surge that affected

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6262-734: The locks near the Paw Paw Tunnel . and also the Chenango Canal On large modern canals, especially very large ones such as ship canals , the gates and paddles are too large to be hand operated, and are operated by hydraulic or electrical equipment. On the Caledonian Canal the lock gates were operated by man-powered capstans , one connected by chains to open the gate and another to draw it closed. By 1968 these had been replaced by hydraulic power acting through steel rams. The construction of locks (or weirs and dams) on rivers obstructs

6363-434: The merger, they decided to build their own interchange facilities, rather than using Pickfords, and this was carried out by the LNWR. Semple's Wharf, on the north bank of the canal, was purchased, and the towpath bridge was built by 1846. A basin and dock were built once the sale of the wharf was completed in 1847, and a new rail link to the goods depot was added. As part of this expansion, two new engine sheds were built, one to

6464-605: The new canal was low. This resulted in a sequential pair of locks, with gates pointing in opposite directions: one example was at Hall Green near Kidsgrove , where the southern terminus of the Macclesfield Canal joined the Hall Green Branch of the earlier Trent and Mersey Canal . The four gate stop lock near Kings Norton Junction, between the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal

6565-431: The next lock. Regent's Canal was authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained on 13 July 1812, for a canal from Paddington to Limehouse. When the directors first met, they had decided that all locks would be paired, so that some of the water from a lock emptying could be used to fill the adjacent chamber. Water saving was an important factor, as they knew that water supply would be problematic. Colonel William Congreve ,

6666-568: The north of the tracks for goods locomotives, and one to the south for passenger locomotives. The southern shed was demolished in 1966, but the northern one, known as the Roundhouse, is Grade II* listed. A second wooden railway bridge crossed the canal to the former Pickfords warehouse. Following the construction on lines to link to the East India and West India Docks in 1851, which became the North London Railway in 1853, further upgrading of

6767-528: The passage of fish. Some fish such as lampreys, trout and salmon go upstream to spawn. Measures such as a fish ladder are often taken to counteract this. Navigation locks have also potential to be operated as fishways to provide increased access for a range of biota. Locks can be built side by side on the same waterway. This is variously called doubling , pairing , or twinning . The Panama Canal has three sets of double locks. Doubling gives advantages in speed, avoiding hold-ups at busy times and increasing

6868-449: The premises taken over by the Lock market. By the early 1990s the original Dingwalls Dancehall had been converted into a venue for the jazz dance club 'Talkin Loud and Saying Something', run by Gilles Peterson and Patrick Forge . Since the 2000s, the pair returned to Dingwalls with 'Another Sunday afternoon at Dingwalls', afternoon sessions that present live artists and DJs. Dingwalls became

6969-444: The public carrier, built a warehouse on the south bank of the canal in 1841. It was designed by William Cubitt , was extended in 1846, and was the first rail, road and canal interchange building in Britain, being linked to the goods depot by a wooden railway bridge over the canal. In 1846, the London and Birmingham Railway merged with several other railway companies to become the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Just prior to

7070-453: The purposes of a 'secret' comeback show). On 6 December 2011, Coldplay played the venue as part of BBC Radio 2 's 'Live in Concert' series. On 15 April 2023, Kaiser Chiefs did a special benefit show at the venue in aid of Amnesty International in conjunction with Richer Unsigned. Camden Lock Camden Lock is a small part of Camden Town , London Borough of Camden , England, which

7171-469: The size of the lock and whether the water in the lock was originally set at the boat's level. Boaters approaching a lock are usually pleased to meet another boat coming towards them, because this boat will have just exited the lock on their level and therefore set the lock in their favour – saving about 5 to 10 minutes. However, this is not true for staircase locks, where it is quicker for boats to go through in convoy, and it also uses less water. The rise

7272-407: The spilled grain. In 984 Qiao installed a pair of sluice-gates two hundred and fifty feet apart, the entire structure roofed over like a building. By siting two staunch gates so close to one another, Qiao had created a short stretch of canal, effectively a pound-lock, filled from the canal above by raising individual wooden baulks in the top gate and emptied into the canal below by lowering baulks in

7373-411: The staircase by moving sideways around each other; or at peak times, one can have all the chambers full simultaneously with boats travelling in the same direction. When variable conditions meant that a higher water level in the new canal could not be guaranteed, then the older company would also build a stop lock (under its own control, with gates pointing towards its own canal) which could be closed when

7474-501: The structure. Congreve's claim that it could be operated in just three minutes was never proved, and in 1818, the directors decided to cut their losses, and reverted to using paired locks. The lift was sold at auction in November 1819, and the 13 lots raised just £404. Construction of the canal was overseen by architect John Nash , with James Morgan acting as supervising engineer. Hampstead Road Locks were built between 1818 and 1820, with

7575-413: The sump to a lower stream or drain, or (less wastefully) by pumping water back up to the canal. Particularly in the two-chamber type, there would be a need for a bypass culvert, to allow water to move along the interrupted pound and so supply locks further down the canal. In the case of the single-chamber type, this can be achieved by keeping the lock full and leaving the gates open while not in use. While

7676-403: The tanks. With no working examples of such lifts, the directors were understandably cautious, but following an engineer's report, decided that Maudslay & Co should build a prototype at Camden Town. There were a number of technical problems, with the canal company blaming Maudslays for poor design, and Maudslays blaming the canal company for changing the original design and failing to maintain

7777-477: The time), near-pub price drinks and New York-style burgers and chickpeas. It wasn't a club, yet stayed open till 2   am, hosting acts such as funk band Gonzalez , and pub rockers Kilburn and the High Roads . Reviewed in one music paper the first summer, it was immediately recognised as plugging the "vast gap in the social and financial standings of various venues", where you can "eat, drink, boogie and listen to

7878-488: The title for largest volume. In 2022 the IJmuiden sea lock serving the Port of Amsterdam became the world's largest lock by surface area. The lock is 500 m (1,600 ft) long, 70 m (230 ft) wide and has sliding lock gates creating a usable depth of 18 m (59 ft). The size of locks cannot be compared without considering the difference in water level that they are designed to operate under. For example,

7979-400: The top gate and raising ones in the lower. A turf-sided lock is an early form of canal lock design that uses earth banks to form the lock chamber, subsequently attracting grasses and other vegetation, instead of the now more familiar and widespread brick, stone, or concrete lock wall constructions. This early lock design was most often used on river navigations in the early 18th century before

8080-466: The traders being there at the weekends, but them taking it in turns to look after groups of stalls during the week. The former Dingwalls yard is now known as Camden Lock Market , and is one of a group of five markets in the vicinity which are collectively called Camden Market . It is a busy market which attracts many visitors, and with music venues, cafes and canal towpath walks, it has become one of London's most popular tourist destinations. There are

8181-456: The two locks was rather more than 50 paces, and the whole space was covered with a great roof like a shed. The gates were 'hanging gates'; when they were closed the water accumulated like a tide until the required level was reached, and then when the time came it was allowed to flow out. The water level could differ by 4 or 5 feet (1.2 or 1.5 m) at each lock and in the Grand Canal the level

8282-421: The wall that separated it from the East Yard. The towpath from London Zoo to Camden High Street was then opened for public access, following a campaign by the Regent's Canal Group. The market was a success, and within a year Northside had obtained permission to extend it to Sundays and Bank Holidays. Soon there were two restaurants on the site, and the range of goods for sale on the stalls became much wider. In

8383-416: The water on the pound above sometimes causing boats to run aground. In addition, it raised the water level on the pound below, causing some boats to strike bridges or get stuck. On horse-drawn and mule-drawn canals, snubbing posts were used to slow or stop a boat in the lock. A 200-ton boat moving at a few miles an hour could destroy the lock gate. To prevent this, a rope was wound around the snubbing post as

8484-505: The whole area, and persuaded them that some of the heritage assets were worth saving. Northside were advised against including a market in their planning application by the council, and in April 1972 received planning permission for a temporary development, lasting three years, by which time the outcome of the motorway scheme would be known. With such a short lease, funding the scheme had its problems, and several joint companies were created to divide

8585-453: The whole pound below. On the Erie Canal, some loaded boats needed a swell to get out of the lock. Particularly lumber boats, being top heavy, would list to one side and get stuck in the lock, and needed a swell to get them out. Some lockkeepers would give a swell to anyone to help them on the way, but some would ask for money for the swell. The Erie Canal management did not like swelling for two reasons. First, it used too much water lowering

8686-476: The words Camden Lock in giant letters on the superstructure, together with representations of two painters, painting the letters. By the late 1980s, Camden Lock was attracting increasing numbers of foreign tourists to the market. In the early days, the emphasis had been on hand-crafted goods, but there was a steady increase in mass-produced goods on sale, and some concern locally that Camden Town would be taken over by tourists, and lose its local amenities. Some of

8787-410: The workshops. Plans for the motorway were dropped soon afterwards. Northside then obtained a development lease, but applications to demolish and replace many of the buildings were successfully resisted by a tenants' association, formed by the craft workers. Newspapers reported the conflicts, and the publicity drew in visitors from a much wider area. The towpath through the area of Hampstead Road Locks

8888-456: Was all that need be emptied when a boat passed through. This type of lock, called a pound lock was known in Imperial China and ancient Europe and was used by Greek engineers in the Canal of the Pharaohs under Ptolemy II (284 to 246 BC), when engineers solved the problem of overcoming the difference in height through canal locks . Pound locks were first used in medieval China during

8989-422: Was already leaking; the crew, having partially pumped the water out, entered Lock 74, moving in front of another boat. Because they failed to snub the boat, it crashed into and knocked out the downstream gates. The outrush of water from the lock caused the upstream gates to slam shut, breaking them also, and sending a cascade of water over the boat, sinking it. This suspended navigation on the canal for 48 hours until

9090-416: Was also a doubled set of locks. Five twinned locks allowed east- and west-bound boats to climb or descend the 60 feet (18 m) Niagara Escarpment , a considerable engineering feat in the nineteenth century. While Lockport today has two large steel locks, half of the old twin stair acts as an emergency spillway and can still be seen, with the original lock gates having been restored in early 2016. Loosely,

9191-499: Was completed by the summer of 1991, and although there were detractors and accusations of commercialism, it proved to be a success. Some 10 million people were visiting the various Camden markets each year, generating a turnover of an estimated £50 million. During the week, trade in the market hall was slow, as few market traders wanted to be there all week, but Northside suggested that the traders form small co-operatives, and offered discounts for those that did so. This resulted in all of

9292-412: Was enlarged in 1931, but subsequently demolished. The goods depot closed around 1980, and many of the stables were demolished in 2000. The Interchange Warehouse was remodelled in 1989, to become offices, and further restoration work occurred in 2007, when some of the later additions were removed. It is now known as The Interchange. Despite some demolition, the complex of buildings, which includes parts of

9393-462: Was formerly a wharf with stables on the Regent's Canal . It is immediately to the north of Hampstead Road Locks , a twin manually operated lock . The twin locks together are "Hampstead Road Lock 1"; each bears a sign so marked. Hawley Lock and Kentish Town Lock are a short distance away to the east; to the west is a long level pound (also known as tract or reach) — it is 27 miles (43 km) to

9494-412: Was invented by Leonardo da Vinci sometime around the late 15th century. On the old Erie Canal , there was a danger of injury when operating the paddles: water, on reaching a certain position, would push the paddles with a force which could tear the windlass (or handle) out of one's hands, or if one was standing in the wrong place, could knock one into the canal, leading to injuries and drownings. On

9595-451: Was raised in this way by 138 feet (42 m). In medieval Europe a sort of pound lock was built in 1373 at Vreeswijk , Netherlands. This pound lock serviced many ships at once in a large basin . Yet the first true pound lock was built in 1396 at Damme near Bruges , Belgium. The Italian Bertola da Novate (c. 1410–1475) constructed 18 pound locks on the Naviglio di Bereguardo (part of

9696-549: Was replaced by a cast iron girder bridge in 1878. The cost was met by the St Pancras Vestry and the Metropolitan Board of Works , and the bridge, which has brick abutments with stone coping, carries a plaque recording this fact. Like the lock, it is Grade II listed. At the south-east corner of the lock is a building dating from 1815, which was originally constructed to house air compressors for Congreve's boat lift. It

9797-588: Was replaced in 1914 by a pair of guillotine lock gates which stopped the water flow regardless of which canal was higher. These gates have been permanently open since nationalisation. The best known example of a round lock is the Agde Round Lock on the Canal du Midi in France. This serves as a lock on the main line of the canal and allows access to the Hérault River . A second French round lock can be found in

9898-424: Was subsequently used as the lock keeper's cottage, and by 2010 had become a Starbucks coffee shop. The building was extended in 1975, when it was also stuccoed , and a crenellated parapet was added. To the west of the lock is a cast iron roving bridge, dating from the early or mid-19th century. It had wrought iron tension stays when built, but these were replaced by steel cables in the late 20th century, when

9999-455: Was the London freight terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway , the first inter-city railway to reach London. Robert Stephenson was the engineer in charge of the project, and he picked the site for the goods depot so that direct interchange with the Regent's Canal was available, from where freight could reach the London docks. A 25-acre (10 ha) site on the north bank of the canal was obtained from Lord Southampton in January 1837, and

10100-464: Was time to change the name of the access road from Commercial Place. The area had been known informally as Camden Lock for some time, and so they campaigned for it to become Camden Lock Place. Despite objections from the fire brigade, the Greater London Council eventually sanctioned the name change, and from then on, the site was marketed as Camden Lock. It became a venue for events, including

10201-500: Was upgraded and a formal opening was held on 20 May 1972. The next major development was Dingwall's Dance Hall, which occupied the former warehouse used by the packing case company and opened in June 1973. It featured live music, and in order to stay open until 2am, the terms of the licence required an entrance fee to be charged, which was set at 50 pence by the licensing authority. Regular customers included David Hockney , Lucian Freud and George Melly , and it soon became well known as

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