Grand Union Canal Aylesbury Arm Bridge Number 3 (Wilstone Bridge) and Lock Number 8 Adjoining on East is a Grade II listed building in the Dacorum local planning authority area, England. First listed on 29 May 1986. Canal infrastructure, bridge, lock. 1 related planning application.
Grand Union Canal Aylesbury Arm Bridge Number 3 (Wilstone Bridge) and Lock Number 8 Adjoining on East
- WRENN ID
- hallowed-doorway-coral
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Dacorum
- Constituency
- Harpenden and Berkhamsted MP: Victoria Collins (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 29 May 1986
- Type
- Canal infrastructure, bridge, lock
- OS grid reference
- SP 904 144
- Coordinates
- 51.82097, -0.68868
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
Wilstone Bridge and Lock Number 8 are located on the Aylesbury Arm of the Grand Union Canal, built between 1811 and 1813 by engineer Henry Provis for the Grand Junction Canal Company. The bridge is constructed of red brick in English bond, featuring granite capping on the piers that support the parapet. The adjoining lock is made of plum brick, with brick and granite copings, timber gates, and cast iron domed bollards.
The bridge is a narrow, hump-backed structure that carries Tring Road over the canal, characterized by a horseshoe arch with a 9-inch arch-ring. Its battered side walls are topped with a raised band of four courses at roadway level, and the parapet walls follow the curve of the hump. Square projecting end piers mark the outswept ends of the parapets. There are repairs in buff brick where tow-ropes have worn into the brickwork of the arch next to the towpath.
The lock, which has seen little alteration since the arm opened in 1815, is designed to accommodate a single narrowboat, with its lower end situated close to the east side of the bridge. It features double gates at the lower end equipped with gate-paddles, and a single gate at the upper end, which is hinged on the north side of the lock. This end has ground paddles only, with the gear set on timber posts. Stone edging extends about 8 meters to the east of the entrance. Dated cast iron hinge anchor plates from 1866 and 1854 are likely reused from other locations.
Local climate
Grand Union Canal Aylesbury Arm Bridge Number 3 (Wilstone Bridge) and Lock Number 8 Adjoining on East sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 81% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 69% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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