Benson Lock

Benson Lock
The keeper's house and lock at Benson Lock
Map
WaterwayRiver Thames
CountyOxfordshire
Maintained byEnvironment Agency
OperationHydraulic
First built1788
Latest built1870
Length40.56 m (133 ft 1 in) [1]
Width5.46 m (17 ft 11 in)[1]
Fall1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Above sea level144'
Distance to
Teddington Lock
72 miles
Benson Lock
River Thames
Day's Lock
Little Wittenham Bridge
Dorchester bridge
River Thame --
-- (navigable by small boats)
Shillingford Bridge
Benson Lock
weir
Old mill
River Thames

Benson Lock is a lock on the River Thames in England, close to Benson, Oxfordshire but on the opposite bank of the river. The first pound lock here was built by the Thames Navigation Commission in 1788 and it was replaced by the present masonry lock in 1870. The distance between Benson Lock and Cleeve Lock downstream is 6.5 miles (10.4 km) - the longest distance between locks on the River Thames.[2]

The weir runs from the lock island level with the lock across to the Benson side. There is a footbridge over the weir which replaced the ferry which operated here previously. The Thames Path crosses the river here.

  1. ^ a b c "Environment Agency Dimensions of locks on the River Thames". web page. Environmental Agency. 8 November 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012. Dimensions given in metres
  2. ^ Cumberlidge 2009, pp. 290–291, 300