THE WATERWAYS HERITAGE SPOTTER: LOCK DISTANCE MARKERS

摘要

Head southwards along the summit of the South Oxford Canal from Marston Doles Top Lock, and look out on the towpath side after just a few yards. There, up against the towpath hedge, you should (depending on how recently the vegetation has been trimmed back) spot a small metal post with 'DIS' cast into it. What does it mean? Sure, in Dante's Inferno, Dis is the name of the city occupying the sixth to the ninth tiers of Hell, but that's a little bit unfair to the Oxford Canal (although some of our readers might have their own suggestions for waterways which might deserve the description). But no: for a better clue, take a walk northwards from Coppermill Lock at Harefield on the Grand Union Canal, and you'll see something similar but a little more enlightening. By the corner of a building alongside the towpath, adjacent to a typical Grand Junction Canal (the GU's predecessor on the Brentford to Brauston length) milepost telling us that it's 77 miles to Braunston, stands a small concrete post with the words 'Lock Distance' cast into it. And yes, in the case of the post on the Oxford Canal, 'DIS' isn't a reference to the infernal regions, it's short for 'DISTANCE'. These are just two of the three examples which I've photographed on my recent travels to illustrate this article. There are many more of them on both waterways - and the explanation is that they were installed to settle arguments between boatmen.