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Bulbourne Yard, HP23 5FU

Formerly a lock gate maintenance establishment, dating from about 1830, with most buildings grade II listed. This has a railway track leading from it to a small turntable on the wharf, giving access to a line along the length of the wharf.

Travel along the Grand Union Canal. North:Image You are Here. South: Image Additional General Information Image

Formerly a lock gate maintenance establishment, dating from about 1830, with most buildings grade II listed.

Formerly a lock gate maintenance establishment, dating from about 1830, with most buildings grade II listed.

The buildings beside the Grand Union Canal at Bulbourne once manufactured lock gates and canalside equipment.

This Italianate tower dates from 1882 when the workshops at Bulbourne were built. The tower houses a tank which was originally used as a reservoir to feed the steam engines that powered equipment in the canal company's works. See Image for a wider view.

Lock gates for the Grand Junction Canal were constructed at Paddington. However it was decided in 1847 it would be better to build nearer to where they were needed. The workshop, which dates from 1882, was probably to a design by Hubert Thomas (1839-1916), the Grand Junction Canal Company's long-serving civil engineer and later General Manager. A steam engine was used to raise water from a borehole in the yard into a tank in the tower, which acted as a reservoir for the boilers of the two steam engines that drove the workshop machinery. The steam-powered main drive shaft was replaced in 1893 by electric power. In 2003, British Waterways transferred this work to their workshops at Bradley and Stanley Ferry. The buildings were deteriorating and the Canal and River Trust invited suggestions to save the buildings. The consequential development was for 25 new homes and an office for the C&RT. (In 1927 the Grand Junction Canal was bought by the Regent's Canal Company and, since 1 January 1929, has formed the southern half of the Grand Union Main Line).

The Grand Junction Canal Company opened its works at Bulbourne in 1847 for the manufacture of lock gates. The workshops date from 1882 and are thought to have been designed by Hubert Thomas who later became general manager of the canal company. The choice of this location made sense; it was in easy reach of the canal's locks and the ready supply of oak from the surrounding Chiltern Hills may also have been a factor. The works continued in the same role until late in the British Waterways era, finally closing in 2004. The specialist work was transferred to Bradley and Stanley Ferry. Following that the buildings, four of which are listed, gradually deteriorated until redevelopment work began in 2019. By late 2021 25 new homes will be put on the market and there will be a facility for the Canal and River Trust.

These fine industrial buildings until recently still produced lock gates, paddles etc. for use on the canal network. The canal is the Grand Union. There are four EH Grade II listed buildings here: (1) Workshop with water tower: https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1319241 (2) Workshop to north of (1): https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1117890 (3) Workshop to west of (1): https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1310310 (4) Store to west of (3): https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1117891

The former canal workshops beside the Grand Union at Bulbourne now house various industries, notably this one which produces decorative ironwork.