 Upon surveying the waterway, Hore found that the gradient was less than half that of the Kennet in Berkshire, leading to far fewer engineering problems.Numerous mills were operational on the stretch of the Avon, leading Hore to require locks to overcome the change in water level resulting from the mill weirs.Five locks were built to overcome changes of no more than , although his requirement of a cutting near Weston meant that Weston Lock needed a depth of around .