Caen Hill Flight

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Caen Hill Locks are a flight of locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal, at Devizes in Wiltshire.

The main flight of 16 locks forms part of a longer series of 29 locks. The total rise is 237 feet in just 2 miles making Caen Hill the steepest flight of locks in the world.

The locks come in three groups: there are seven at Foxhangers, sixteen at Caen Hill and six at the town end of the flight.

Whilst the locks were under construction in the early 1800s a tramroad provided a link between Foxhangers, at the bottom of the flight, and Devizes at the top, the remains of which can be seen in the towpath arches in the road bridges over the canal.

Because a large volume of water is needed for the locks to operate a back pump was installed at Foxhangers in 1996, which is capable of pumping 32 million litres of water per day to the top of the flight which is equivalent to one lockful every eleven minutes.

The engineer John Rennie's designed the locks and were thought to be the best way to climb the very steep hill; they were the last part of the 87 mile route of the canal to be completed. The 16 locks have unusually large sideways-extended pounds to store the water in which is needed to operate them.

With the coming of the railways, the canal was little used, and closed. In the 1960s there was a major restoration operation.

Queen Elizabeth II opened the restored flight in 1990 although they had been navigable for a number of years before this.