Teddington Lock - History

History

Construction of the first lock started in 1810 after the City of London Corporation obtained an Act of Parliament allowing them to build locks at Chertsey, Shepperton, Sunbury and Teddington. The lock was further upstream than the present lock complex at the point where the footbridge now crosses. It opened in June 1811 and the weir was completed by the end of that year. By 1827 the timber lock needed considerable repair and in 1829 the weir was destroyed by an accumulation of ice. It is noted that in 1843 the lock-keeper prevented a steam vessel from coming through the lock. At that time steam vessels were limited to travel as far as Richmond. A further problem arose in 1848 when old London Bridge was removed, leading to a drop of 2 ft 6 inches at the lower sill, and resulting in the occasional grounding of barges.

It therefore became necessary to rebuild the lock and in June 1854 proposals included providing capacity for seagoing craft with a side lock for pleasure traffic. In June 1857 the first stone of the new lock was laid at the present position, being the central of the three locks, and it opened in 1858 together with the narrow skiff lock, (known as "the coffin"). The boat slide was added in 1869 and in the 1870s it is recorded that the weir collapsed twice causing enormous damage. The footbridges were opened in 1889 and finally the barge lock, the largest lock on the river, was built in 1904–1905.

In 1940 Teddington Lock was the assembly point for an enormous flotilla of small ships from the length of the River Thames to be used in the Evacuation of Dunkirk.

Early twenty-first century renovation and improvement work in the area around the locks was undertaken as part of the Thames Landscape Strategy Teddington Gateway project.