Mode Wheel Locks.

The locks here are the last ones on the canal and the two locks here give a thirteen foot rise into the terminal docks. The lock chambers are the same standard 600 x 65 foot and 350 x 45 foot as in the other canals further down.

A lock and weir had stood on the Mersey and Irwell Navigation at this point and a corn mill had been here since  medieval times but all were demolished when the canal was built.  The mill had been powered by a water wheel (Maude's Wheel) and  it is from this that the locks derive their name.

The construction of the locks follows the same pattern as that used all along the canal, with the  foundations resting on a bed of solid sandstone rock with concrete on top.  The walls are  built of concrete and are lined above the water level with brick and a blue facing brick is used to finish.  All fender courses, copings and the corners of the gate chambers are of dressed cornish granite.

The gates themselves are built of greenheart wood - so heavy that it sinks in water, and  so indestructible that it is considered to be superior to steel. The various sections of the gates are tied together with iron plates and bolts. The gates are constructed to move on rollers  and are operated by hydraulic rams attached to chains, with the rams and cylinders  being fixed in chambers within the lock walls.

The water is allowed to enter the locks by means of sluices positioned in tunnels within the walls and there is a sluice between the two locks which can be brought into use if there is a need to save water.  The inlet sluices in each lock have four openings and are designed to spread the flow and minimise currents within the lock.

On the Trafford Park side of the locks there are 4 sluices.

View taken outbound from the large lock - 4th August 2002.

In the far distance a vessel can be seen loading cement at the Blue Circle wharf at Weaste.