Back to gallery

RIVER AVON - STRATFORD-UPON-AVON

The navigation works on the Avon were originally authorised by an Order in Council and Letters Patent of Charles I in 1635, and by 1641 it was reported that the river was navigable to within 4 miles (6 km) of Warwick. It is often suggested that William Sandys (the 1635 grantee) constructed only flash locks (with a single barrier), and that Andrew Yarranton, who restored the river in the 1660s provided pound locks (with two pairs of mitred gates), but this is wrong. The recent research points to the reverse, namely that Yarranton put in about three navigation weirs (a type of flash lock) to overcome certain difficulties that remained; these were never adjacent to mills.

6,530 views
6 faves
70 comments
Uploaded on December 5, 2010
Taken on September 11, 2010