BRICK LOCK
Lock |
State |
Date |
Length |
Length - Working Distance |
Width |
Fall |
Brick Lock |
Built in brick |
1766/9 |
89' 6'' |
87' 0'' |
13' 6'' |
6' 3'' |
Brick Lock |
Rebuilt in brick/concrete |
1914 |
89' 6'' |
87' 0'' |
13' 6'' |
6' 3'' |

Griggs’ Report
1844: No 2 Lock called Roydon Brick Lock is affected by a Mill. Depth of
water on the lower sill. Coleman says 3’ 8’’; but it appears to me that
the level of the Tumbling Mill gates below would run the water off lower
than 3’ 8’’ on the lock lower sill. The two pairs of lock gates were put
down in 1838. The lock has a fir apron and a cart bridge attached at the
tail. About ¾ in length of the north west side of the brickwork was put
down in 1821. The brickwork on the other side is old. Otherwise this
lock is in good order. Depth of water on the upper sill 5’ 0’’. No 1
Lock House at Roydon Mill Lock. Good repair dated 1830
Beardmore’s
Report 1870: Roydon Mill Lock is in middling repair
Childs’ Report 1880:
Brick Lock – Toll Collection Lock. Upper gates old want renewing
entirely (going to be done this year. Brickwork throughout requires
repair.. Lower gates, 1 very old and the other about 10 years old,
require renewing. Altogether this lock ought to have £500 spent on it
within a couple of years. Plenty of depth over sill. Lockhouse date
1830, office and washhouse brick built, slated and tiled, one story high
with loft over, in very fair condition.
Childs'
Report 1884: '' Upper
gates new. Brickwork partly renewed. Lower gates, one very old and
the other about 10 years old, require renewing. Altogether
this lock ought to have £300 spent on it within a couple of years,
plenty of depth over the sill. Lockhouse (date 1830) Office and
wash-house, brick built, slated and tiled, one storey high, with loft
over, in very fair condition."
Tween's
Report 1901: "Upper
gates 1885 Brickwork on east side bad. Lower gates 1890. Requires £400
spent on it. Lower sill should be lowered 1' 6'' .
Lockhouse (date 1830) Office and wash-house, brick built, slated and
tiled, one storey high, with Loft over, in very fair condition."
Image below from
the 1901 Report

For comparison, the
lock house - after
complete renovation, _ was available in September 2011 for offers in
excess of £750,000!
This is
one of the two original brick chambers– hence the name. It used to be
Brick Cistern Lock.
The last twist in the history of the privately
owned River Stort Navigation was precipitated by the collap se of the
northern wall of the lock.

From the Minutes of the
Board of the Lee Conservancy: “…the Engineer and Manager reported that
the collapse of Brick Lock, Roydon, took place at 11 p.m. on the night
of 20th April, 1909….the work of clearing the obstruction was
proceeding very slowly, the brickwork being still at the bottom of the
lock; that he visited the place on the 10th May, 1909, and found that
the Stort Navigation Company had six men employed, working ordinary
time, removing the earth from the side of the lock so as to form a
slope; that at the present rate of progress it would be many months
before the Navigation would be again open to traffic; that the Stort
barges, with the exception of one, were shut in above the lock; that the
obstruction was a serious matter for the Conservancy on account of the
loss of tolls and for the traders on the Stort; that he had written to
Mr Gee, the Solicitor to the Company, offering, on behalf of the Board,
to assist in opening the Navigation to traffic as soon as possible, such
assistance to be at the expense of the proprietors of the Stort
Navigation….” (NA Rail 845/36)
The Board was already
engaged in talks with Sir Walter Gilbey with regard to the purchase of
the Navigation. At the same meeting, it was minuted that “…the Board be
recommended to proceed with the purchase of the Stort, and that the
solicitors be instructed to prepare a provisional contract with Sir
Walter Gilbey for the purchase of the whole of his interest in the
river….the purchase money to be the sum of £500 promised by the
Metropolitan Water Board and the contributions also promised by the….
Councils of Bishops Stortford, Sawbridgeworth, Hadham and Ware…”
The collapse of the lock
and the assistance provided by the Lee Conservancy in rebuilding it, led
to the eventual purchase of the Navigation from Sir Walter Gilbey by the
Board in 1911 – for the princely sum of 5/- (25p)!

The lock house here is the
only survivor of the seven cottages built in the 18th century
by Sir George Duckett.
The chamber of this lock
was further rebuilt in 1913 after Charles Tween reported that "I propose
that these two locks (Lower and Brick) should be taken in hand at the
same time....the side which fell in 1909 was rebuilt at the same depth
as the old side therefore it will have to be underpinned. The
brickwork on the Towing Path side is in rather a bad state but I think
can be underpinned and made safe. The upper sills must be lowered
about 7 ins and the bottom of the lock will have to be lowered about 1ft
9ins." (LMA/ACC 2423/013).
The work was completed by 5.6.1914 and the materials removed upstream to
Roydon Lock (LMA/ACC 2423/014)
There is a miller's plate beside the top
gate.
Brick Lock Cottage
Census/Date |
Name |
Title |
Wife |
Location
given by enumerator/Comments |
Source
Reference |
1.5.1939 |
A H Hawley |
Lock keeper |
Transferred
to Burnt Mill Lock |
NA Rail
845/123 |
1.4.1939 |
A H Hawley |
Lock keeper |
To £1.7.0 |
NA Rail
845/123 |
1.4.1938 |
A H Hawley |
Lock keeper |
£1.5.0 to
£1.6.0 |
NA Rail
845/122 |
5.11.1937 |
Hawley |
Lock keeper |
24/- to 25/-
per week |
NA Rail
845/121 |
21.5.1937 |
Arthur Henry
Hawley |
Lock keeper |
£1.4s and
house and uniform |
NA Rail
845/121 |
28.4.1937 |
Edgar White |
Lock keeper |
Transferred
to Roydon Lock |
NA Rail
845/121 |
1937 |
Edgar White |
Lock keeper |
Appointed |
Eddy Tait (grandson) |
11.10.1935 |
John
Freshwater (68) |
Lock keeper |
Retired after 12 years service
with pension of 4/4d per week
Died 26.8.1939 aged 72 |
NA/Rail 845/119
NA Rail 845/123 |
5.10.1928 |
John
Freshwater |
Lock keeper |
Increase to
£1.1s (minimum wage) |
NA Rail
845/112 |
5.11.1926 |
John
Freshwater (60) |
Lock keeper |
Appointed at
19/- per week , house and uniform. Requested assistance in
moving his furniture to the lock |
NA Rail
845/110 |
30.7.1926 F
Oxley has been a most unsatisfactory lock keeper frequently
absenting himself from his duty and having undesirable people in
the Lock Cottage….advise that he be discharged and that the
people now in the cottage be cleared out and a fresh lock keeper
be appointed” He be given a week’s wages in lieu of notice and
that he be required to give up possession of the lock-house
immediately” (NA Rail 845/110) |
27.4.1923 |
F Oxley |
Asst Lock
keeper |
Appointed
after L G Puncher refused appointment. |
NA Rail
845/107 |
16.2.1923 |
E M Weald |
Lock keeper |
Transferred
to Feildes Weir Lock |
NA Rail
845/107 |
14.11.1919 |
E Weald |
Lock keeper |
28/- +
house, garden, and uniform |
NA/Rail
845/46 |
22.1.1918 |
E Weald |
Lock keeper |
26/- per
week |
NA /Rail
845/66 |
4.3.1915 |
E M Weald |
Lock keeper
and collector |
+2/- per
week |
NA Rail 845/42 |
13.10.1911 |
E M Weald |
Lock
keeper and collector |
Into the
service of the Board at 22/- per week. (also i/c Stores at 2/-
per week extra 29.9.1911) |
NA/Rail 845/38 |
2.4.1911 |
Edward Martin (44) Weald |
Toll
collector & Lock keeper |
Eliza |
Brick Layer (sic) Roydon, Essex |
RG14PN9801 RG78PN517 RD189 SD3 ED8 SN120 |
31.3.1901 |
Edward Weald
(33) |
Toll
collector & Lock keeper |
Widr |
Brick Lock |
Ex/Roydon/8/1 |
5.4.1891 |
William Searle (64) |
Lock keeper |
Francis (sic) |
The Lock |
Ex/Roydon/12/2 |
4.4.1881 |
Thomas Irwin
(45) |
Collector |
Sarah |
Stort Toll
House |
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
4.4.1881 |
George
Dorrington (18) |
Lockman |
~ |
Stort Toll
House |
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
2.4.1871 |
George Hart
(46) |
Lock keeper
& Toll collector |
Elizabeth
(also Lock keeper & TC) |
Stort Toll
House and Lock |
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
2.4.1871 |
Charles Cannon (14) |
Asst Lock keeper |
~ |
|
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
8.4.1861 |
George Hart
(36) |
Lock keeper
|
Elizabeth
|
|
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
30.3.1851 |
James
Dorrington (31) |
Lock keeper |
Jane |
Lock house
(son -George D 11m) |
Ex/Roydon/10/1 |
7.6.1841 |
Charles
Dorrington (30) |
Lock keeper |
Mary Ann |
(son -Charles D 8yrs) |
Ex Roydon/10/1 |
11.6.1833 |
George Coleman |
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Roydon Brick Cistern Lockhouse |
Essex RO D/DU 289/52 |
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