Bingley Locks

Not far from Saltaire we came to the locks at Bingley.  The locks there are formed of a pair of staircase flights of locks, one formed on 3 locks and the other (& more famous) of 5 locks.  With staircase locks the upper gate of one lock is also the lower gate of the one above it - so in the 5 Rise there are five chambers, and six gates (the top and bottom gates and four intermediate gates).  The Photo to the left gives some idea of the scale of the locks.  From the bottom of the 3 Rise to the top of the 5 Rise the canal rises a total of 69 '11".

Both the 3 Rise and the 5 Rise are manned by BW lock keepers and the locks are closed outside their working hours  (8am to 4pm).

To the right, the photo is looking at the 3 Rise before starting up the flight.

Both the 3 and 5 Rises opened on 12 March 1774 and was a major feat of engineering at the time.

More recently in January 2012 the locks in the 5 Rise were drained for new gates to be installed.  The new gates are made of English Green Oak and with the balance bean weigh approximately 5 tons.









The view from the top of the Bingley 5 Rise (below) is quite spectacular, even though it was quite cloudy.   The dark chimney marks the Damart factory.