RYEFORD DOUBLE LOCK

Ryeford Double Lock, Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Canal double lock, now disused. Constructed in 1779, repaired in the late C18 and mid-C19. Designed by architect Anthony Keck for the Stroudwater Canal Company. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1340669
Date first listed:: 24-Feb-1987
List Entry Name:: RYEFORD DOUBLE LOCK
Statutory Address:: Ryeford Double Lock, Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places. Almost 350,000 photos and stories have been added so far.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.

Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.

Date:: 2003-05-27
Reference:: IOE01/05995/25
Rights:: © Mr Jonathan Briggs. Source: Historic England Archive

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1340669
Date first listed:: 24-Feb-1987
Date of most recent amendment:: 22-Jul-2011
List Entry Name:: RYEFORD DOUBLE LOCK
Statutory Address 1:: Ryeford Double Lock, Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Ryeford Double Lock, Ryeford, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Gloucestershire
District:: Stroud (District Authority)
Parish:: Cainscross
County:: Gloucestershire
District:: Stroud (District Authority)
Parish:: Stonehouse
National Grid Reference:: SO8166804602

Summary

Canal double lock, now disused. Constructed in 1779, repaired in the late C18 and mid-C19. Designed by architect Anthony Keck for the Stroudwater Canal Company.

Reasons for Designation

Ryeford Double Lock is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: Architectural: as a rare example, in the South of England, of a late-C18 double lock Historic interest: one of the few structures on the Cotswold Canals that was designed by a well-known provincial architect Group value: it forms a cogent grouping with other canal-related buildings that are listed, including the adjacent lock keeper's cottage

History

The Stroudwater Navigation, built in 1775-9, was designed to link the River Severn at Framilode to Stroud, allowing coal to be brought from Shropshire, Staffordshire and the Forest of Dean to the textile mills of the Stroud valleys. The Thames and Severn Canal, constructed in 1783-9, was designed to run eastwards from Stroud, eventually linking the River Severn to the River Thames at Inglesham, near Lechlade. The Cotswold Canals, as they are also known, were generally successful, though the Thames and Severn in particular suffered serious technical failings which compromised its profitability; despite this, both canals continued in use well into the C20.

The double lock at Ryeford was constructed in 1779 and designed by well-known provincial architect Anthony Keck for the Stroudwater Canal Company. It was built to accommodate Severn trows rather than Thames barges. Problems were experienced during the lock's construction and parts of the walls had to be rebuilt, firstly in 1789 when the repairs where funded by Keck himself, and again in 1845 when ground movement problems were solved by adding three brick-lined circular drainage openings to the chamber wall. In the 1980s much of the north wall of the chamber was rebuilt following flood damage.

Details

MATERIALS: red brick with limestone and granite dressings.

PLAN: a double lock with widening entrances at the west and east ends, that was divided into two chambers by a central pair of gates, making this a double lock without a separating pound. DESCRIPTION: the retaining walls to the chambers are of brick with large limestone ashlar coping stones; part of the offside (north) wall was rebuilt following flood damage in the 1980s. There are granite dressings at the gate positions and the iron restraining straps that formerly attached to the timber gate posts remain in situ. In addition there are some paddle windlasses, but those on the offside have been renewed. The former pairs of gates are now missing, although there are traces of ground paddles above the position of the middle and upper gates. On the south side of the lock is a flight of stone steps that lead from the lower to the middle level, and some of the setts for one of the quadrants remain visible.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 132063
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Brooks, A, Verey, D, The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire II - The Vale and the Forest of Dean, (2003), 704
Tucker, J, The Stroudwater Navigation, (2003), 92-6

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.