IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Mayenne Place, DEVIZES, SN10 1QS

When the architect and engineer John Rennie recommended routing the Kennet & Avon Canal through Devizes on the way to Bath he had to overcome a major obstacle at Devizes where the high ground of the Vale of Pewsey drops 237 feet towards the Avon Valley within two and a half miles. The Caen Hill Flight was the result which forms part of the Devizes Flight of 29 locks and is one of the Seven Wonders of the Waterways – see https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/canal-history/history-features-and-articles/the-seven-wonders-of-the-waterways?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-sGZ1LrL4AIVjZXtCh2LTAsBEAAYASAAEgIv6PD_BwE Caen Hill Flight was the last stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal to be completed in 1810 and after almost being abandoned after 1955 has now been fully restored. This is towards the top of the Caen Hill Flight. The white house in the far distance is where the canal bends to pass under Marsh Lane.

The Caen Hill flight drops the Kennet and Avon Canal 130feet by 16 locks with side ponds.

Near the top of the Caen Hill Flight, Lock No. 41

Entering lock No 41 (Bo-tax Lock); the descent of Caen Hill might take 5 - 6 hours. http://www.wiltshiretouristguide.com/Articles/Article_157.asp

Looking across one of the pounds towards a lock. The houses beyond are in Mayenne Place.

Seen from below, this is lock number 41. There are 29 locks raising the Kennet and Avon Canal 272 feet in a distance of two miles up Caen Hill near Devizes. Designed by engineer John Rennie, the sixteen locks (numbers 29 to 44) which form the steepest part are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Seen from above, this is lock number 41. There are 29 locks raising the Kennet and Avon Canal 272 feet in a distance of two miles up Caen Hill near Devizes. Designed by engineer John Rennie, the sixteen locks (numbers 29 to 44) which form the steepest part are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

There are 16 locks rising nearly 131ft in the Caen Hill flight. The locks are so close together, each needs a side pond to ensure there is enough water to fill both the lock and the pound between each lock.

The Caen Hill flight on the Kennet and Avon canal. In the 1970s Nicholson's guide to the Waterways of the south west said "The scale of the whole flight is most impressive. All of it is of course unusable; the gates are missing, the intervening pounds silted or overgrown. One or two have even been turned into pastures, horses now grazing where the water to fill the locks was stored. The task of restoration is enormous, but work is slowly getting under way. Pounds are being cleared, but the major task of lock restoration still lies ahead."