Clifton Lock

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Clifton Lock
Clifton Lock - gates showing some ambivalence over board status (yellow or red)
Waterway	River Thames
County	Oxfordshire
Maintained by	Environment Agency
Operation	Hydraulic
First built	1822
Length	129’ 10” (39.57m)
Width	19’ 0” (5.79m)
Fall	3’ 5” (1.03m)
Above Sea Level	153'
Distance to Teddington Lock	79 miles

Clifton Lock

legend

River Thames

weir

Sutton Pools

Culham Lock

Sutton Bridge

Appleford Railway Bridge

weir

Long Wittenham

weir

Clifton Lock

River Thames

Clifton Lock is a lock on River Thames in Oxfordshire, England. It is located south of the village of Clifton Hampden and north of Long Wittenham. It is at the start of the Clifton Cut, which bypasses the river to the north of Long Wittenham. The first discussions about creating a lock here were started in 1793. It was finally completed in 1822 by the Thames Navigation Commissioners. The current lock is an electrically operated hydraulic pound lock, although it still looks much the same as it did in the 19th century.

1 Access to the Lock
2 Reach above the lock
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Access to the Lock

Taken when a high stream is running almost level over the weir and backwater. The lower marker is the flood level in 2003; the higher marker in 1894

The lock is at the end of a long track which starts on the A415 road to Abingdon just after it leaves Clifton Hampden (10mph signs). On the way to the lock, this track meets another track from the end of the High Street Clifton Hampden. The status of these tracks is unclear as signs state "Farm only".

[edit] Reach above the lock

The Clifton cut takes the river for nearly a mile before it resumes its natural course. The reach is relatively dull and uninteresting, crossed about halfway along by the Appleford Railway Bridge. Just before Sutton Bridge the river again divides between an old course via Sutton Courtenay and the Culham Cut. The Thames Path follows the northern bank all the way to Culham Lock.