– CRT’s annual lockage report for 2020

The headline figure, comparing 2020’s lock use with the previous year, is that there was a reduction of almost 33% across 172 comparison sites. In the week before the first lockdown in March, there were some 3,500 weekly lock counts, which fell to fewer than 1,000 during lockdown. From early July, when boaters were able to cruise freely again, lockage numbers soared to more than 12,000 per week and remained at this level for most of the summer, with a peak of 13,700 in mid-August. As in previous years, the twinned Hillmorton Locks 2 and 3 on the North Oxford Canal were the busiest with 5,933 lockages, a drop of 29% on 2019. Next was Cholmondeston Lock on the Shroppie with 5,346 lockages (also down 29%), followed by Woodend Lock on the T & M at 4,450 lockages. The least-used lock was Graving Lock, which links the Shroppie to the River Dee, with 28 lockages for the year. The report can be found at https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/lockages.