2011

TQ1479 : On Windmill Bridge

taken 13 years ago, near to Norwood Green, Ealing, England

This is 1 of 2 images, with title On Windmill Bridge in this square
On Windmill Bridge
On Windmill Bridge
The bridge is part of 'Three Bridges' with the railway below and road above. The top lock of Hanwell Locks is ahead.
Three Bridges

Three Bridges is crossing point of the road, Grand Union Canal and railway. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was involved in engineering the railway to cross the road and canal and Windmill bridge as the canal bridge is called was his last major undertaking in 1859. The railway provided rail access from Southall to Brentford Dock.
Despite the name there are only two bridges.

The Grand Union Canal

The Grand Union is a 137 mile (220km), 166 lock, 2 tunnel canal running between Brentford in London and Birmingham. It is the longest canal in Britain, and has 11 main arms and junctions. It takes over a week to navigate.

The Leicester arm branches off at Norton Junction and runs 66 miles long through 59 locks (including 2 staircase locks at Foxton) and 2 tunnels to Leicester where it continues into the River Soar.

Read more at Wikipedia LinkExternal link

Hanwell Locks :: TQ1579

A group of six wide locks on the Grand Union Canal in London.

Hanwell Locks - a Scheduled Ancient Monument

The flight of six locks at Hanwell raises the Grand Union Canal by just over 53 feet above the height of the River Brent over a distance of a third of a mile. Located in a pleasant rural setting, the locks have been designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by English Heritage.

They are the work of William Jessop, chief engineer of the Grand Junction Canal, who had the foresight to design the locks to be wide enough to accommodate two narrowboats at the same time.

The locks are bounded on the north by the former County Asylum (known as Hanwell Asylum), now Ealing Hospital. The long brick wall between the locks and the hospital is also a Scheduled Ancient Monument. A bricked-up arch can be clearly seen in this wall. This is the site of a short branch of the canal which led to a dock within the asylum. Canal boats used this dock to deliver coal for the Asylum's boilers and to take away fruit and vegetables which were produced in the asylum's large market gardens.

There are some side ponds at the locks. These were used to store reserves of water to keep the locks topped-up as required.

Some lock-keepers cottages survive as private residences, but some have been demolished.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Oast House Archive and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Canals
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Top Lock [17] Title Clusters: · On Windmill Bridge [2] ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
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Grid Square
TQ1479, 306 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Oast House Archive   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Thursday, 14 July, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Sunday, 17 July, 2011
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 142 796 [100m precision]
WGS84: 51:30.2655N 0:21.3167W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TQ 142 796
View Direction
EAST (about 90 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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