eawa - East Anglian Waterways Association

Haverholme lock, posting to [canals-list] Digest Number 3772
Posted by: "Steve" itsmethos

Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:40 pm (PDT)
We spent Sunday exploring some of the Sleaford Navigation. I was
puzzled by the pump positioned to the side of Haverholme lock and the
chamber below the pump. In the lockwall are three iron rods sticking
into the lock chamber, maybe something to do with the pump.
If anyone can satisfy my curiosity and tell me what the pump and
chamber was for it would be much appreciated.
Photos of the pump and chamber are uploaded to the Haverholme lock
folder.

Posted by: "Dave Wedd" davebitm
Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:11 pm (PDT)

We had a work party there a few years ago, and the local volunteers
couldn't tell us what the device was for.

My thoughts are that it probably pumped water to a local house - maybe
Haverholme Priory.

The wooden gear teeth suggest that it was supposed to be
quiet-running. The vertical shaft with the small bevelled gearwheel
might perhaps have been driven from a turbine mounted in the
ground-paddle culvert?

I can't remember - was this pump mounted near where the bottom gates
would have been? If so, it would either need the lock to be kept
full, or it would be fed by a pipe from above the top gates.

I've no idea what the ironwork in the lock chamber was for - it would
have seriously impeded navigation, so was presumably added after the
canal fell into disuse.

Dave Wedd.

Posted by: "rb999sb" sue rb999sb
Thu Oct 16, 2008 3:23 pm (PDT)
--- In canals-list@yahoogroups.com, "Dave Wedd" wrote:

The pump was to provide water for the large house near by and was in
use until just before the last war. It was powered by a water turbine
in what was the by-wash. It was used only when the tank at the house
was empty. The water turbine was one of the first to be used in the
country. The wooden teeth were cheaper to replace and repair than all
cast iron and at the time was common practice. (Heckington windmill
has the same arrangement.) The metal work in the lock chamber may
well have been installed when the chamber was used as a boat house by
the occupants of aforesaid big house. It may also be connected with
the fact that the lock walls started to move in after the closure of
the navigation to Cobblers lock.
Dictated by Roger wearing his cobblers t/shirt.
Sue