NAVIGATION LOCK

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A single-chamber lock on the left bank of the River Bann, just downstream from the west end of the flood gates at the Cutts. The sides of the chamber are of randomly-sized dressed stone blocks brought to courses and coped with large dressed sandstone blocks. A vertical metal ladder runs down the middle of the wall on the river side.
Pair of timber gates at both ends, with timber footplates supported on cantilevered steel frames on their upstream sides. Water controlled by land sluices set into the gate emplacements on the upstream sides of both sets of gates (rather than gate paddles). Cast on each casing housing the sluice mechanisms is the legend: "MacAdam Brothers/ & Co/ Belfast".
There are vertical stop plank grooves up both sides of the chamber, just below the lower gates and just above the upper gates. A depth gauge (calibrated in feet and inches) is set into the SE gate emplacement. A vertical ladder has also been set within the NE emplacement.
A flight of concrete steps leads down to the water just beyond the NW gate. In 2010, automatic depth gauges were fitted at both ends of the lock.
The pier separating the lock chamber from the river is faced along its river (E) elevation with masonry and has rounded ends. Its upstream end has been extended in concrete to facilitate access to the adjoining flood gates erected in the early 1930s.

Setting
There are several related features of note in the immediate environs of the lock.

- Lock keeper’s house
A single-storey building aligned N-S at the landward side of Cutts Lock. Modern extension along east side. Pitched artificial slate roof, cement rendered walls and square headed openings with modern frames. Premises enclosed by a metal security fence.

- Quay
A slightly curved squared rubble quay runs for c.150m along the left bank just upstream from the Cutts lock. Tarmaced hardstand behind and separated from road by random rubble wall.
At its NW end is a modern Waterways Ireland pontoon aligned parallel with the quay and accessed at its upstream end by a hinged metal gangway.

- Mill race
This channel runs for c.200m from the NW end of the quay to the downstream end of the former Dept. Agriculture Fisheries Research premises just beyond the NW end of the lock complex.
The water enters at its upstream end through a segmental dressed stone arch let into the quay wall. Immediately below this are the vertical emplacements for a sluice gate (the actual gate is missing). Just down from this, a concrete wall blocks the channel. The sites of the channel are partly lined with random rubble masonry.
Approximately 65m down from its intake, the channel is crossed by a concrete bridge giving vehicular access to the Waterways Ireland offices. Fifty metres beyond this bridge, the channel is piped under the entrance to the former fisheries premises.

- Weir, fish traps and flood gates
The mid-1850s masonry weir runs from the right bank to four eel traps and, from the traps, the 1930s flood gate emplacement runs to the SE end of the lock. Affixed to the outside face of the west pier of the emplacement is a rectangular cast-iron plaque reading "Ransomes/ Ipswich, 19 & 31 England/ Rapier Ltd".

Historical information

This is Lock 1 of the Lower Bann Navigation and was built by the Commissioners of Public Works; it was the first of five such locks on the navigation. John MacMahon, the waterway's designer, had originally envisaged this lock being on the other side of the river, but it was switched to the Castleroe side due to the proximity of a public road. Its excavation started in the late 1840s and the first stone of the floor of the chamber (invert) was laid on 19 June 1850. Work was completed in 1851.
The Commissioners' 1858 plan shows it as a 130ft x 20ft chamber with 6ft 4in fall, separated from the river by a 220ft x 20ft masonry pier.
James Barton, writing in 1859, noted that because the pier was shorter than usual, there was an increased risk of boats being swept over the adjoining weir at times of flood.
The lock is captioned on all editions of the OS maps from 1850 onwards.

Lock keeper’s house
Although the lock with which this lock keeper's house is associated was completed in 1851, its associated lock house was not built until 1857. It was demolished c.1951 to make way for the present lock house to its immediate NW. This replacement eventually fell into disrepair, but was completely refurbished in 2004-05 as Waterways Ireland's regional headquarters. During this renovation, an extension was added along its east side.

Quay
The quay at the upstream end of Cutts Lock was built by the Commissioners of Public Works as part of the Navigation Scheme between 1848 and 1851. The Commissioners' plan of 1858 shows a 480ft long, slightly curved structure immediately upstream from Lock 1. Its construction necessitated the removal of the remains of the derelict Castleroe Mill.
This five-storey mill was erected c.1808, and its two waterwheels powered eight sets of millstones. It was gutted by fire c.1820 and is shown as a roofless shell on the 1830 OS map. All vestiges of it were removed by the Commissioners in 1847 in advance of the quay’s construction.
In 2003-04, a pontoon was added by Waterways Ireland at the downstream end of the quay for use by boats awaiting passage through the lock.

Mill race
The construction of the Lower Bann Navigation allowed for the future erection of water-powered mills at the downstream ends of most of the locks, the upper levels of the channels into the locks doubling as headraces. In the event, no mill was ever built at any of the locks. However, a mill race was constructed beside the Cutts Lock in 1850-51. This channel is marked as "intended mill race" on the Commissioners of Public Works 1858 plan of the Cutts.

Weir, fish traps and flood gates
Immediately SE of the lock is a natural waterfall known as the Cutts. A very important salmon and eel fishery since prehistoric times, its present name apparently dates from c.1613 when an artificial cut was made through the rock shelf to facilitate the passage of boats and timber downriver. Fish traps are recorded at the Cutts since the 1680s, the Honourable the Irish Society holding the fishing rights.
Between 1847 and 1851, the Commissioners of Public Works, as part of the Navigation Scheme, erected a masonry weir across the river to provide sufficient depth of water in the river above the lock. Fish traps and elver slips were incorporated into the structure.
In 1931, the Ministry of Finance replaced the west section of the weir with four vertical sluice gates to enable better regulation of the water level than was possible with the fixed weir, particularly at times of flood. The new emplacement was designed by Percy Shepherd of the Department of Works & Public Buildings and the contractor was Walter Scott & Middleton Ltd. The actual gates were supplied by Ransome & Rapier (Ipswich) and are of F.G.M. Stoney’s patented counterweighted type. There are similar flood gates at Portna and Toome.
In 1996, salmon trapping at the Cutts was suspended under agreement with Dept Agriculture (NI) Fisheries Division under the EU Salmonid Enhancement Programme. In 2006, the Irish Society's right to net eels here was leased to the Lough Neagh Fishermen's' Co-Operative Society Ltd. In the interests of eel conservation, they have deliberately not exercised these rights, although eels are still trapped for stocking purposes upstream. Also c.2006, Rivers Agency installed electric motors in place of the manual system in order to raise and lower the gates automatically. This also necessitated a gantry across the navigable channel to carry the electric cabling to the motors.
Today, Waterways Ireland is responsible for the operation of the lock, and Rivers Agency for the operation and maintenance of the weir and flood gates.

References - Primary sources:
1. T.M. Baynes, 'The Salmon Leap near Coleraine, Co Londonderry' in Ireland Illustrated, by G.N. Wright (London, 1831).
2. PRONI OS/6/5/7/1, First edition OS six-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7 (1830).
3. Seventeenth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1848, in Proceedings of the House of Commons 1849, vol.23, p.685.
4. OS Memoir for Macosquin Parish (1835). Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of County Londonderry VI, 1831-36, North-East Londonderry, p.105 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1993).
5. OS Memoir for Coleraine Parish (1835). Reprinted as A. Day & P. McWilliams (eds), Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland: Parishes of County Londonderry XII, 1829-36, Coleraine and Mouth of the Bann, pp 93-94 (Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1995).
6. Mr & Mrs S.C. Hall, Ireland: Its Scenery and Character, vol.3, p.210 (London, 1843).
7. Seventeenth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1848, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.23 (1849), p.685.
8. Eighteenth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1849, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.25 (1850), p.692.
9. Nineteenth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1850, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.25 (1851), pp 214-215.
10. PRONI OS/6/5/7/2, Second edition OS six-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7 (1850).
11. Twentieth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1851, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.41 (1852-53), p.619.
12. Twenty-fifth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1856, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.17 (1857), p.767.
13. Twenty-sixth Report on Lough Neagh District for 1857, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.26 (1857-58), p.610.
14. Twenty-seventh Report on Lough Neagh District for 1858, in Proceedings of the House of Commons, vol.14 (1859), p.885.
15. PRONI: FIN/9/2/4A and FIN/9/2/4M. Commissioners of Public Works, Ireland (1858), Lough Neagh District: Plans of Lower Bann Navigation, drawings 1, 8 and 12.
16. PRONI FIN/9/1/54. Report on Lower Bann for Trustees of Lower Bann Navigation by James Barton (Ballymoney, 1859).
17. PRONI: FIN/9/2/4A and /4H). Sir A.R. Binnie, Bann and Lough Neagh Drainage, p.14. Command paper 2855 (Dublin: HMSO, 1906).
18. PRONI FIN/9/2/119C. Ministry Finance: Drainage Act NI 1929 and Final Scheme Annexe 1 (1930).
19. PRONI FIN/46/27. Ministry Finance file dated 4 June 1951 relating to building of lock house at Cutts.
20. Waterways Ireland Annual Report 2003, p.17.
21. Waterways Ireland Annual Report 2004, pp 7 and 18.
22. Waterways Ireland Annual Report 2005, pp 13 and 21.

References - Secondary sources:
1. G.T. Stokes, Pococke's Tour In Ireland in 1752, p.39 (Dublin, 1891).
2. M. Given, 'Castleroe Mill: a disastrous fire', in Coleraine Chronicle, 1928-29 (copy in Coleraine Library).
3. Anon, ‘Drainage of the River Bann and Lough Neagh, Ireland’, in Civil Engineering, vol. 27 (March 1932), p.41.
4. W.E. Shepherd, Chairman’s address to Belfast & District Association of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 29 Jan 1934, p.19
5. Rev T.H. Mullin, Coleraine in Georgian Times, p.87 (Belfast: Century Services, 1977).
6. W.A. McCutcheon, The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland, p. 74 and plates 22.6, 22.7 (Belfast: HMSO, 1980).
7. Eel Express, vol.2 (1996).
8. Eel Express, vol.3 (1997).
9. Eel Express, vol.3 (1997).
10. R. Cox & M. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland, p.165 (London: Thomas Telford, 1998).
11. M. Savage, River Bann and Lough Neagh Pilot, p.23 (River Bann and Lough Neagh Association, 2009).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Cutts Lock is scheduled rather than listed, as this is considered a more appropriate form of protection (refer to NISMR database - ref LDY007:500). It is an excellent example of mid-19th century canal engineering, robustly executed to withstand the rigours of the not infrequent Bann floods. Its interest is enhanced by the juxtaposition of the quay, mill race, weir, fish traps and flood gates. Historically, the lock is also of significance as being part of the last navigable waterway undertaking to have been carried out in Ireland in the 1800s, and also for its association with John MacMahon and the Commissioners of Public Works.