02/11/2026
Located in Wiltshire, England, the Caen Hill Locks are a magnificent and historic flight of 29 locks on the Kennet and Avon Canal. Designed by the prominent engineer John Rennie, the flight was completed and opened in 1810 as the final link in the canal, creating a direct and vital commercial water route between Bristol and London.
The locks were engineered to tackle an extreme landscape, climbing a total of 237 feet over a span of two miles with a steep gradient. Because the terrain is so precipitous, the sections of water between the middle 16 locks are exceptionally short. To prevent the locks from running dry and to properly manage the water supply, fifteen of these locks feature unusually large side pounds designed to store the immense volume of water required to operate them. Today, this dramatic straight flight of 16 locks is proudly recognised as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
