Low Lock was needed to get round where the last weir was on the river going down. A bridge was needed to get over the weir to the island beyond where the lock had been constructed.
This is where the lock pen was. Below that, sailing boats could tow their string of full lighters up from Spalding.
The lighters would be detached and pulled through the lock by horses and on up to the various warehouses in the Deepings or on to the villages beyond and the town of Stamford.
This is an impression of what Low Lock looked like.
Lighters that had been brought back down from Stamford, loaded with goods or the empty coal barges, would be re-attached to the sailing boats once they had been turned round and they would make their return journey to Spalding - a round trip in one day depending on the wind!
This is the island where the lock was.
The area alongside the river would obviously be an ideal place for those men working the horses up to Stamford to live and also stable their horses in the farm land at the back of the houses there.
< Back Lock 12, Low Lock below Deeping St James
The Stamford Canal << The earliest proper canal in England? <<
