Pinkhill Lock is a lock

Lock (water transport)

A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...

 on the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

 in England. It is close to Farmoor

Farmoor

Farmoor is a village west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire....

, Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

.

The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris

Daniel Harris (Oxford)

Daniel Harris was a builder, prison governor, civil engineer and architect who lived and practised in Oxford.-Family:Harris's birthplace is obscure but he was born about 1761, as the entry in St-Peter-le-Bailey's register for his death in 1840 records his age as 79. He married Elizabeth Tomkins of...

 for the Thames Navigation Commission

Thames Navigation Commission

The Thames Navigation Commission used to manage the River Thames in southern England. In particular, they were responsible for installing or renovating many of the locks on the river in the 18th and early 19th centuries.- History :...

 in 1791.

The weir is on the other side of the island and carries a public footbridge. The name Luck's or Lot's Hole is given to part of the weir stream.

History

The lock is named after a farm in the area and is on the site of a former weir and flash lock

Flash lock

Early locks were designed with a single gate, known as a flash lock or staunch lock. The earliest European references to what were clearly flash locks were in Roman times....

 owned by Lord Harcourt who maintained rights over it. It is one of the Commission's early locks and like St John's was built by J. Nock. The lock was partially rebuilt in 1877 and a house was proposed at the same time. Previously the keeper lived at Eynsham and covered the whole stretch from Newbridge to King's Weir. A new cut was dug below the lock by 1899 when some reconstruction was carried out. The stone lock keeper's house dates from 1932.

Access to the lock

The lock can be reached (by authorised vehicles or on foot) from Farmoor on a track behind the reservoir.

Reach above the lock

The river winds past Farmoor Reservoir

Farmoor Reservoir

Farmoor Reservoir is a reservoir at Farmoor, Oxfordshire, England, about 8 km west of the city of Oxford. It is close to the left bank of the River Thames. Like most of the reservoirs in the Thames Valley, it was not formed by damming a valley...

 and Bablock Hythe

Bablock Hythe

Bablock Hythe is a small hamlet in Oxfordshire, situated 5 miles west of Oxford city centre. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire. There was formerly an important vehicular ferry across the River Thames at Bablock Hythe on the reach above Pinkhill Lock....

 where there used to be a ferry. This part of the river was frequented by Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold

Matthew Arnold was a British poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, literary professor, and William Delafield Arnold, novelist and colonial administrator...

 and his "Scholar Gipsy

The Scholar Gipsy

"The Scholar Gipsy" is a poem by Matthew Arnold, based on a 17th century Oxford story found in Joseph Glanvill's The Vanity of Dogmatizing...

".

The Thames Path

Thames Path

The Thames Path is a National Trail, opened in 1996, following the length of the River Thames from its source near Kemble in Gloucestershire to the Thames Barrier at Charlton. It is about long....

crosses the river over the lock head gates to the northern bank bank towards Stanton Harcourt

Stanton Harcourt

Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about southeast of Witney and west of Oxford.-Archaeology:Within the parish of Stanton Harcourt is a series of paleochannel deposits buried beneath the second gravel terrace of the river Thames...

, and rejoins the river at Bablockhythe. It then continues alongside the river to Northmoor Lock

Northmoor Lock

Northmoor Lock is a lock on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, on the northern bank about a mile from Northmoor.The lock was built in 1896 by the Thames Conservancy to replace a flash lock at Hart's Weir, also known as Ridge's Weir, about a mile upstream and another at Ark Weir downstream...

.

External links

• Weir behind Pinkhill Lock at geograph.co.uk