Watford Locks

Watford Locks (grid reference SP592688) is a group of seven locks on the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal, in Northamptonshire, England, famous for the Watford Gap service area.

The locks are formed (looking from the south), of two single locks, a staircase of four, and a final single lock. Together they lift the canal 16 m (52 ft 6 in) to the "Leicester Summit", which it maintains all the way to Foxton Locks.

The locks were built to carry narrowboats, and the system was opened in 1814. In the early 20th century there were plans to build an inclined plane similar to that at Foxton as part of a scheme to allow the passage of barges, but the plan was abandoned when the inclined plane at Foxton proved uneconomic.

When the Grand Union Canal was formed in 1929, there were further proposals to widen the flight as part of the modernisation going on elsewhere on the Grand Union's network, but these plans did not develop further.

The locks are hemmed in by the Roman Watling Street (now the A5 road), the M1 motorway, and the West Coast Main Line railway, which all fit through the narrow Watford Gap, between two hill systems.

Watford

Watford (ⁱ/ˈwɒtfərd/) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated 17 miles (27 km) northwest of central London and inside the circumference of the M25 motorway; not to be confused with Watford, Northamptonshire which is 55 miles to the north.

The town developed along a road running uphill from a ford of the River Colne. The land belonged to St Albans Abbey until the 16th century. In the 12th century the Abbey was granted a charter allowing it to hold a market here and the building of St Mary's Church began. The town grew modestly, assisted by travellers passing through to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A big house was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another substantial house was built nearby at The Grove. Both the Grand Junction Canal from 1798, and the London and Birmingham Railway from 1837, allowed the town to grow faster, with paper-making mills, such as John Dickinson and Co. at Croxley, influencing the development of printing in the town which continues today. Two industrial scale brewers Benskins and Sedgwicks flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century. Today, Watford is a major regional centre for the northern home counties. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford, along with Stevenage, to be its major sub-regional centre. Several head offices of national companies and multi-nationals are based in Watford. Both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference, took place at The Grove hotel.

Watford (disambiguation)

Watford is a town in Hertfordshire, England It may also refer to:

See also

New Mills

Coordinates: 53°22′01″N 2°00′25″W / 53.367°N 2.007°W / 53.367; -2.007

New Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England, approximately 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Stockport and 15 miles (24 km) from Manchester. It lies at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, close to the border of Cheshire. The town stands above the Torrs, a 70 feet (21 m) deep gorge, cut through Woodhead Hill Sandstone of the Carboniferous period. It is on the north-western edge of the Peak District, England's first national park. It has a population of approximately 10,000. New Mills can refer to the built-up area that includes Newtown and Low Leighton, or the civil parish that includes the villages and hamlets of Whitle, Thornsett, Hague Bar, Rowarth, Brookbottom, Gowhole, and most of Birch Vale.

New Mills was first noted for coal mining, and then for cotton spinning and then bleaching and calico printing. New Mills was served by the Peak Forest Canal, three railway lines and the A6 trunk road. Redundant mills were bought up in the mid-twentieth century by a children's sweet manufacturer, Swizzels Matlow, famous for Love Hearts and Drumsticks. New Mills was a stronghold of Methodism.