Kildare Branch IWAI
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The following series of slides show a horizontal section of a typical canal lock chamber. They are slow to down load, so please be patient. The intention is to give a brief over view of how locks actually work. It is not intended at a tutorial, & you are strongly advised to use locks only with the assistance of a lock keeper.

So why do we have locks ? & how do they operate ?
Firstly, canals are man made, they are not created by nature. They must be either dug out of the ground or built up on embankments. Either way they must be perfectly level, in order to hold water.
However if the canal has to go over a hill, it is usual to construct a number of short canals, called "levels". Somewhat like a set of steps. Moving a boat from one level to another used to be a difficult task involving unloading the boat then taking the boat out of the water and launching it into the next level and reloading all the goods.

The lock

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