to upgrade the canals so that wide barges could be used between London and Birmingham. Their aim was to accommodate barges wide immediately, and ultimately to make the route suitable for barges. 52 locks on the two Warwick canals were converted into weirs, and 51 new locks, each were built. There was one less because the flight of six at Knowle was replaced by five. In order to give a depth of , the height of weirs was raised or lock sills were lowered. As part of the work, the top two locks at Bascote were made into a staircase pair. Although the Duke of Kent performed an opening ceremony on 30 October 1934 at the top lock of the Hatton flight, to mark the completion of the project, work continued until 1937. One boat was built, but without widening the bottom of the canal, there were many places where two such boats could not pass, and the new locks were used by pairs of narrow boats. Location In common with many of the locks on this section of the canal, the remains of the original locks can still be seen beside the newer ones. The four locks raise the level of the canal by . Below the bottom lock, the canal is level for to Welsh Road Lock, and above the top lock, it is level for to Itchington Bottom Lock. The paddles on the locks reflect the style of the Warwick and Napton Canal, and are different from those further south, where the canal was built by the Grand Junction company. Bibliography References Buildings and structures in Warwickshire Staircase locks of England Transport in Warwickshire