Special Exhibition
The overgrown side ponds at Lock 94, above.
Alongside Lock 95, the next one down, is a traditional wooden paddle post. This is for the control of a ground paddle. The lock is filled through this sluice, controlled by this paddle, and emptied when required at the other end.
This is Lock 95 - there are two more to go before we get to the end! Behind the lock is a most handsome lock house.
The side ponds of Lock 95 are in a particularly overgrown state.
Lock 95 is graced with a particularly handsome lock house
This picture, above, shows a horse slip. "Slip" is an old word, meaning a slope down into something (think of a slip road on the motorway, a slipway into the sea) and we use the term on the canals for the ramps, like this, used to provide a way for horses to be walked out of the water if they fell in. Horses sometimes did fall in due to accidents when pulling barges and it was very difficult to get them out! There are other horse slips in central London and elsewhere on the canal network.
Above is a picture taken from an archive postcard of maintenance work being carried out at Hanwell Locks. The caption suggests that the locks were drained once each year for accumulated rumbbish to be removed. It would be good news if that tradition could be resumed today!
