Caen Hill flight of 29 locks

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a navigable waterway crossing southern England from Bristol to Reading. The canal, completed in 1810, passes through rural landscapes, chalk vales and river valleys, winding its way through villages, market towns and the City of Bath.

The Severn & Thames cycle route hugs the canal for much of the way, offering an easy flat path to cycle along. The waterway links architectural and engineering triumphs, including aqueducts, pumping stations and lock flights.  It's a combination of three waterways with the River Avon to the west, River Thames to the east, both of which are linked by the fifty-seven miles of the man made Kennet and Avon waterway.

If you choose the more southerly section of the route at Bradford-on-Avon then you will stay alongside the canal and pass the Caen Hill flight of locks. Near Devizes, the flight of 29 locks is capable of lifting 300,000 gallons of water every hour to a height of 235 feet. Nearby, is Kennet & Avon Museum, which interprets the remarkable story (the museum is sited at The Wharf at Devizes).

In 1846, the Great Western Railway Company took over the running of the Canal, but maintenance standards declined and traffic was discouraged by the levying of high tolls. By the turn of the century, little canal traffic remained and further contraction followed with the growth in road traffic after the First World War.

One stretch of the Kennet & Avon was closed totally in the early 1950s when some of the locks fell into a dangerous condition, and severe deterioration of the remainder followed through disuse. This inspired the formation of the Kennet & Avon Canal Association later to become The Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and in 1956 they successfully petitioned against closure of the canal.

With water supply a major obstacle to full operation on the canal, the Trust set up an appeal to raise over £1 million to fund backpumping schemes to recycle water at locks. Its successful achievement culminated in 1996 with the commissioning of the pumps at the flight of 29 locks at Devizes. The backpumps at the flight of locks means that the locks can now remain open to boats throughout the year. The canal is now a successful waterway again and plays a major part in the Severn & Thames cycle route.

Information and photograph The Kennet & Avon Canal Trust