Caen Hill Lock Flight

The Caen Hill Flight of Locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal is one of the Seven Wonders of the Waterways, and certainly to anyone contemplating taking a narrowboat through the flight, it appears both wondrous … and awesome.

A lock flight is a collection of locks geographically close enough to be considered a unit. My personal definition is that if you can see one lock from another, it’s part of a flight … and long as there are at least three locks.

It’s most awe inspiring sight is the straight line of 16 locks routinely photographed by visitors, but actually the entire flight consists of 29 locks spread out over 2.2 miles (3.5 km), lifting or lowering boats 237 ft/72.2m. That’s just one lock less than the largest lock flight, the Tardebigge flight on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Unlike the city in Normandy, the Caen Hill flight is pronounced “cane”

The top lock is in Devizes, a market town in Wiltshire, and the bottom lock is at Foxhangers Wharf. The 16 locks mentioned earlier have large side ponds (or pounds) that help regulate the flow of water and a pump at Foxhangers returns some of the water to the top lock.

An experienced narrowboat crew can negotiate the flight in four hours, five to six hours is more common, but many need considerably more time. You’re generally not supposed to moor overnight within a lock flight, but mooring is permitted between locks 28 and 29 and between locks 44 and 45.

Access to the flight is limited and the schedule varies according to the season, but during the summer months the locks are open from 8 am to 8 pm. The latest one can attempt the sixteen in a row is 5 pm. Locks 29 and 44 are padlocked at the end of each day.

As with all the locks on the K&A, these are double locks, meaning two narrowboats or one broad-beam boat can pass through. Narrowboats should share to reduce the amount of water lost each time a lock is turned. It also means more hands to open gates and raise and lower paddles. The etiquette of traveling a lock flight is a little complicated, but fortunately there are usually volunteer lockkeepers who will assist and advise.

There is a café and toilets between locks 44 and 45 and there’s a small convenience shop at Caen Hill Marina below the bottom lock. You can also visit the Diamond Jubilee Wood, but as it was only planted in 2012 to celebrate the queen’s 60th year on the throne, there’s not a lot of shade yet.

It’s quite fun to be a gongoozler and stare and comment on boaters negotiating the locks, but if you see an overwhelmed crew you can alway ask if they need a hand.

On my next trip, we’ll have to go up the flight first thing and of course go down it to return the boat. I’m both looking forward to and dreading it.