History

Foxton's famous staircase lock flight was built in 1810. A masterpiece of 19th century engineering, it raised boats a massive 75ft up the hill from Market Harborough and linked the north and south of England by canal.

The locks were lauded for their ingenuity, and the clever use of side ponds saved considerable amounts of water. But it did take boaters a grand total of 45 minutes to complete the passage. Initially this wait was not seen as a problem, but with the coming of the railways, the cargo-carrying working boats needed to compete on speed.

At the same time, it became apparent that companies needed to transport materials using wide-beam vessels, which would not fit through the narrow locks. The famous carrying firm Fellows Morton & Clayton wanted to use bigger boats to transport coal down to factories in London.

Under the new ownership of the Grand Junction Canal Company, the pioneering Foxton Inclined Plane Boat Lift was opened in July 1900, solving both problems in one. Ascending the new lift took only 12 minutes from start to finish, and unlike the locks, the inclined plane was also suitable for wide-beam vessels which made the canal much more competitive against the newly opened railways.

The spectacular boat lift was the brainchild of Gordon Cale Thomas. It raised and lowered boats on a steep slope using two large water-filled tanks. The tanks, or cassions, were capable of holding either two narrowboats or a barge, which made a tremendous improvement to the speed of the ascent - and the queue at the bottom of the hill. It also greatly reduced the use and wastage of water, always a precious resource.

However, unwidened locks at nearby Watford Gap continued to limit the volume of traffic coming through Foxton and sadly, financial pressures led to the closure of this engineering feat. In 1911, canal traffic returned to the historic lock flight and in 1928, the machinery of the Foxton Inclined Plane Boat Lift was sold for scrap. Despite this, the 'Thomas' lift went on to inspire a number of larger European boat lifts from the 1960s onwards.