County Lock is a lock on the River Kennet

River Kennet

The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...

 in Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 town centre in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. It is now administered by British Waterways

British Waterways

British Waterways is a statutory corporation wholly owned by the government of the United Kingdom, serving as the navigation authority in England, Scotland and Wales for the vast majority of the canals as well as a number of rivers and docks...

 as part of the Kennet and Avon Canal

Kennet and Avon Canal

The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...

. Downstream from the lock is Brewery Gut, a particularly fast flowing, narrow and dangerous stretch of the river.

County Lock has the lowest rise of the locks on the Kennet, as boats only rise or fall about 30 cm (1 foot) in the lock. The main stream of the Kennet flows down the weir

Weir

A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...

 on the far side of the lock, while another arm of the Kennet disappears under the Bridge Street Roundabout.

The first County Lock was built between 1718 and 1723, during the navigation works undertaken under the supervision of the engineer John Hore

John Hore

John Hore was an English navigation engineer notable for engineering the River Kennet navigation in 1718.Born in Newbury, Berkshire to a line of maltsters, worked alongside his father. When his father acquired part-ownership of the River Kennet, he also invested...

 of Newbury in order to create the Kennet Navigation between Reading and Newbury. Initially the lock was located on the north side of the river, adjacent to Bear Wharf, but it was relocated to its current location on the south bank as part of the Reading waterworks improvement scheme of 1876.

The land on both sides of the river adjacent to County Lock was formerly part of the site of Simonds' Brewery

Simonds' Brewery

H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewery founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960, eventually becoming part of Scottish & Newcastle...

. Brewery Gut takes its name from Simonds' Brewery

Simonds' Brewery

H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewery founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960, eventually becoming part of Scottish & Newcastle...

, which once occupied land on both sides of the river at both lock and gut. In the days of horse haulage, this stretch of river had no towpath

Towpath

A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...

, and long tow line had to be sent down-river on a specially designed float. To add to the difficulty, at its narrowest the gut is only 25 feet (7.6 m) wide, causing strong currents. Boats cannot safely pass due to the tortuous and narrow route, and there have been instances in the past of boats colliding and sinking. Today passage through the gut is controlled by traffic lights.

Simond' Brewery closed in the late 1970s, and most of the brewery buildings have been demolished. Around the lock itself they have been replaced by a mixture of apartments and offices, although the brewery's old stable

Stable

A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...

 building, which overlooks the lock, has been preserved and is now occupied by a Loch Fyne restaurant

Loch Fyne Restaurants

Loch Fyne Restaurants is a chain of 38 seafood restaurants in the United Kingdom owned and operated by Greene King plc.-History:The company takes its name from Loch Fyne, a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland...

. The part of the brewery that enveloped Brewery Gut has been replaced by The Oracle shopping centre

The Oracle, Reading

The Oracle is a large indoor shopping and leisure mall, located on the banks of the River Kennet on the site of a 17th century workhouse of the same name in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire...

, and boats can be seen navigating through the middle of the Riverside Level of that complex, lined on both sides by restaurants and pubs.