Tardebigge Locks or the Tardebigge Flight is the longest flight of locks in the UK, comprising 30 narrow locks on a two-and-a-quarter-mile (3.6 km) stretch of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. It raises the waterway 220 feet (67 m), and lies between the Tardebigge tunnel to the North and the Stoke Prior flight of six narrow locks to the South. The Tardebigge Engine House is also on this stretch.
Some of the Tardebigge locks from the embankment of Tardebigge Reservoir
Tardebigge Top Lock, with a rise of 11 ft, and keeper's cottage
Inland Waterways Association plaques at Tardebigge top lock
Inland Waterways Association plaque 1981 with incorrect date of founding
Worcester and Birmingham Canal
The Worcester and Birmingham Canal is a canal linking Birmingham and Worcester in England. It starts in Worcester, as an 'offshoot' of the River Severn and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham. It is 29 miles (47 km) long.
There are 58 locks in total on the canal, including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, one of the longest lock flights in Europe. The canal climbs 428 feet (130 m) from Worcester to Birmingham.
The start of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Gas Street Basin, looking south-east, towards The Mailbox
Worcester and Birmingham Canal locks. Feb. 2007
Worcester and Birmingham Canal signpost.
Aerial view of the new railway bridge (nearest to camera) and Ariel Aqueduct, over the diverted A38, taken in January 2013