Itchen Navigation: Description
St Catherine Lock - Tumbling Bay

Distance: 0.8 mile Click on an image to view a larger version of the picture in a separate window. The file size of the larger version is given in brackets after the caption. For more pictures of this part of the Navigation see the gallery.

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Below St Catherine Lock, in contrast to above the lock, the Navigation is quite neglected and overgrown. Whilst the channel carries water at times of high flow in the river, these days the Navigation is often dry especially in summer. Much of the water that flows through St Catherine Lock leaves the Navigation via a side stream just below the lock where former sluices no longer maintain a level in the canal.

Tail of St Catherine Lock from downstream showing side stream leaving Navigation 16.03.2003 (137.3k)

Dry canal bed south of St Catherine Lock 16.03.2003 (132.6k)

The towing path that used to follow the bank of the Navigation is now overgrown and unusable. The modern path follows the line of Twyford Lane parallel to the Navigation but a little to the east. About 350 yards south of the lock, the old lane turns away from the Navigation and passes under the railway embankment. The waterway itself passes under the line by means of an iron-decked skew bridge. A towing path used to pass under the bridge beside the Navigation but this is now much eroded. As the railway was not opened until 1891 (and closed in 1966), it would not have seen any commercial boat traffic pass under it.

Bridge formerly carrying railway over the now dry Navigation 16.03.2003 (138.5k)

North end of modern culvert carrying Navigation under M3 motorway 16.03.2003 (91.9k)

Shortly after the railway at Hockley, the waterway is culverted under the M3 and its associated side-roads. The Navigation used to pass diagonally under Hockley Crossroads on the old Winchester By-pass in a "tunnel" with full headroom. Legal powers to divert the Navigation along the south side of the railway embankment to join the River Itchen were obtained when the M3 was constructed. The diversion will only be built if and when restoration of the adjoining waterway is undertaken. In the meantime, two routes are available to the walker:

• The first involves continuing along the tarmac path beside the A3090 road towards but not crossing the River Itchen. Cross the road and pass under the motorway along the east (nearest) bank of the main River Itchen. The former route of the Navigation will be rejoined after several hundred yards at a modern footbridge.

M3 crossing the Itchen Valley looking south west with Navigation culvert on the right. Hockley Crossroads used to lie at the centre of this picture 16.03.2003 (60.8k)

River Itchen with M3 and A3090 bridges and Hockley Railway Viaduct beyond 16.03.2003 (144.8k)

• The second route follows the old line of the Navigation more closely. Pass under the motorway by means of the bridge for the road to Twyford. Just over 100 yards after the motorway, the old towing path can be rejoined opposite the entrance to Hockley Golf Course. Within a few yards the remains of the next lock, Twyford Lane End Lock or Lock No 2, are encountered on the right. This lock is fairly overgrown and it is difficult to see a great deal. A wooden bridge crosses the lock in the position once occupied by the bottom gates. The main River Itchen is reached in another 100 yards where the first route is joined at the modern footbridge.

View of chamber of Twyford Lane End Lock from bridge at tail 16.03.2003 (249.2k)

Tail of Twyford Lane End Lock 16.03.2003 (181.2k)

The river and the Navigation now share a common course in a southerly direction. This section of waterway flows through lovely open countryside although noise from the motorway can intrude at times. After several hundred yards, at Tumbling Bay, a set of hatches (as sluices are known locally) control water levels in the Navigation and in the Twyford Drain, a branch of the river which leaves to flow along the eastern side of the valley. The remains of old hatches can be found a few yards to the south of the new set which replaced them.

Itchen and towing path (with small breach) north of Tumbling Bay 16.03.2003 (184.0k)

Tumbling Bay Hatches 25.01.2003 (99.5k)

More pictures of this section of the Navigation.

Send your comments to the Web Site manager (Peter Oates) Text © Southampton Canal Society 1999 - 2003. Pictures © Peter Oates 2003. Pictures on or accessed through this page may not be reproduced without the express permission of the Web Site manager. Original page covering St Catherine Lock to Shawford created 11 June 1999 - split into two pages 12 April 2003 - last updated 9 May 2004.

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