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Foxton locks by Stephen Dawson Inclined plane Brief history of inclined planes. The idea of using inclined planes to move boats over obstacles or between water levels dated back to the Greeks in 600BC, but it was the late 1700's that saw it first becoming of interest in Britain, with the first recording I can find of a suggestion to use, being in 1773, in Cornwall on the St Columb Canal at Lusty Glaze joining the canal to the sea. In 1788 an inclined plane was used for the first time in England to raise a boat on the Ketley Canal in Shropshire, Wikipedia, and was in use for 28 years. The Ketley Canal joined the Shropshire Canal and nearby in 1792 another inclined plane was opened linking the Shropshire Canal at Blists Hill Down to the River Severn. This is now known as the Hay Inclined Plane. It can be visited as part of the Blists Hill Victorian Town, part of Ironbridge.
Today you can see the remains next to the locks but the plan is to restore it. The first stage restoration of the canal arms and cleaning up and below the inclined plane was completed in 2008 costing £2.8 million, and money is currently being raised to allow the rebuilding of the inclined plane. Next to the locks is a small museum that is housed in what was the boiler house, mooring bollards for the inclined plane can also still be seen. Locks The Foxton Locks are made up of two staircases of 5 locks each. Staircase locks are where the lower gate of one lock is also the top gate of the one below. This is the largest flight of staircase locks in England. They are one end of a high level or summit canal that runs from near Foxton to another similar flight at the other end known as the Watford Fight, near the village of Watford in Northamptonshire. It consists of two single locks, a staircase of 4, and a single lock. While the inclined plane was in operation the Foxton locks fell into disrepair but in 1908 money was spent to bring them back into use. When the inclined plane was constructed the size of some of the side ponds were reduced.
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