 It was engineered by John Blackwell, who had dug a new cut to avoid the meandering River Kennet between Padworth and Sulhamstead.The lock's depth was just , which was to improve the head of water at Towney Lock, upstream.When the waterway was restored in the 1960s, restoring the shallow lock was deemed unpractical and instead the rebuilt Towney Lock was deepened to cater for the difference in level.