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Cleeve Lock

 

Cleeve Lock has the shallowest rise of all the Thames locks, at a mere 0.69m depth. The reach between Goring and Cleeve is the shortest reach between locks on the Thames at just over half a mile.

 

Way back in the 16th century a flash lock was documented here at Cleeve, the placename coming from a cliff, or clift - a cutting of a channel by water. This weir was converted into an oak pound lock in 1787 and rebuilt in stone in 1874 and converted to hydraulic operation in 1966/7.  The lock had its own lock house by the tail gates but this was demolished and a new house was built in 1958 alongside the centre of the lock chamber.

 

Cleeve Lock now has the commonly seen radial weirs, although prior to 1982 there were early types of paddle and rymer weirs, operated by lifting and lowering ‘paddles’ to allow water to flow through.

 

 The lock gardens, with their natural-looking flower beds, shrub plants and fruit trees, are intended by the lock keeper – a dedicated naturalist - to attract all sorts of wildlife and here you might see kingfishers, geese, different types of river-feeding birds, and the inevitable minks.

 

One of the picnic tables in the lock garden has a plaque which reads:

 

            Sacred to the memory of Michael O’Day

            Who died maintaining his right of way

            He was right, dead right, as he sailed along

            But he’s just as dead as if he’d been wrong

                                                                        Signed: Anon.

 

 


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