Caen Hill Lock Flight

What to spot at Caen Hill

Wildlife: Water voles, grass snakes, bats and a variety of wetland birds.
Opening times: Open all year, daylight hours.
Access/Conditions: Towpath access to the locks.
Facilities: Café at the top of the flight of locks.
How to get there: Follow the A365 west of Devizes.
Parking: The lockside car park for Caen Hill is signposted from the A365 west of Devizes.

From open ponds to grassland and scrubby woodland, Caen Hill is a haven for a rich variety of wildlife. In early summer swans glide effortlessly with their cygnets amongst the bull rushes and reeds of the many ponds. Dragonflies and damselflies provide flashes of colour as they skim the sparkling waters, whilst mallards and moorhens gather in chattering pockets. It is a regular haunt for bats in the early evening and keep your eyes open for water voles too.

The dramatic change in height of the land at Caen Hill resulted in the need for 16 locks to be built in close succession. Because of the steepness of the hill there was not space to use the normal arrangement of water pounds between the locks and so engineer John Rennie built side ponds to replenish the water in each lock after use. The locks and ponds were the last stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal to be built in 1810 and are said to look like a giant’s backbone or a huge staircase. They are designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument – the same level of heritage protection given to Stonehenge!

Visit the Caen Hill Lock Flight