The Fontinettes Boat Lift

There are three ways in which you can move boats on a canal or river between different levels.

Locks - but these are slow and take up a lot of land.

Slopes - dragging boats up a slope [inclined plane or water slope]. Link to post about an inclined plane.

Boat Lifts - boats are moved into caissons and lifted between different levels. Link to post about a large new boat lift.  Link to some nearby boat lifts.

The boat lift at Fontinettes was built in 1887 to enable 300 tons barges to cross a 13 meter difference in level between two points on a river.  It replaced five locks. Moving boats by the lift took 5 minutes. The locks had taken 90 minutes. The lift was inspired by the Anderton Boat Lift built in 1875 in Cheshire. Link to post about Anderton Boat Lift.

The lift was in operation until 1967. It was replaced by a single large lock nearby that can lift 6 boats in a 20 minute operation.  The boat lift is a listed building and in the hands of a conservation group who give tours and boat trips.

The lift is in Arques, near the road to the Channel Tunnel

The lift is not far off the A26 but hard to find without GPS.  The lift coordinates are 50.7313, 2.3037. The coordinates of the replacement lock are 50.7285, 2.3075.

Blue arrows mark the channel from the lift to the river

One of the caissons

The filled and grassed over channel