Cookham Lock

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The Cookham Lock

The Cookham Lock is a lock on the River Thames near Cookham in Berkshire . It lies in one of the four arms of the river at this point. On the one hand, the Sashes Island and on the other hand the Mill Island is part of the Formosa Island , the largest island in the Thames in the river section not influenced by the tides.

There are several weirs at this point. The Hedsor Weir has been running along the old shipping route since 1837. There is a lower weir and the Odney Weir on Formosa Island.

history

The original shipping route was across Hedsor Water and the only weir was connected to the mill. After the construction of the Marlow Lock in 1773 there were problems with the water level being too low upstream and a proposal was made to build a lock at Cookham to hold back the water. In 1794 the section was considered to be one of the most dangerous on the Thames because limestone rocks fell into the river. Plans for a sluice and canal piercing were made in 1807, but seven years later the City of London complained that nothing had happened yet. In 1826 a stone barge for Westminster ran aground, twisted in the canal and broke in two. The £ 40 worth of cargo was lost. Ultimately, in 1829, a puncture was decided that would go through the northernmost of the islands, Sashes Island. Part of the puncture was formed by the existing Sashes Stream and a small island in the lower part of the puncture was removed. The lock opened on November 1st, 1830, but no weir was built at that time. The lock and puncture cost £ 8,400. The lock overcame a height difference of about 0.6 m.

In 1832, George Irby, 3rd Baron Boston the owner of the nearby Hedsor House , sued for compensation for the loss of towpath rights at Hedsor Water, and was found to be right. In 1837 a weir was found necessary and it was built for £ 650. The weir doubled the height difference for the lock to around 1.2 m. The construction led to further lawsuits from Lord Boston as the mooring he owned was no longer usable. This time he was only granted the construction of a lock in the weir as compensation . This lock was removed when the weir was renewed in 1869, as Lord Boston had meanwhile set up eel traps in the river.

The lock was renewed in 1957.

The river above the lock

After the lock, the Cookham Bridge crosses the river. Coming from Buckinghamshire , the River Wye flows into the Thames. The Bourne End Railway Bridge , to which a pedestrian bridge is attached, then crosses the river. On the Berkshire side of the river lies the Gibraltar Islands . The Marlow By-pass Bridge crosses the river just before Marlow Lock.

The Thames Path goes through Cookham and not by the lock. From Cookham Bridge it runs on the south side of the river to the Bourne End Railway Bridge, which it crosses on the pedestrian bridge and continues on the north bank to Marlow .

See also

Web links

Commons : Cookham Lock  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II: Locks and Weirs. 1920 - 1968 new edition, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, ISBN 0-7153-4233-9 , p. 308.
  2. ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II, p. 308, p. 310.
  3. ^ A b Alec Skempton: Civil Engineers and Engineering in Britain, 1600-1830. Variorum, Brookfield, Vt. 1996, ISBN 0-86078-578-5 , p. 171.
  4. ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II, p. 308, pp. 310-311.
  5. ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II, p. 308, pp. 312-313.
  6. ^ Fred S. Thacker: The Thames Highway. Volume II, p. 308, p. 313.

Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 40.4 "  N , 0 ° 41 ′ 41.9"  W.