19th Lock

Canal lock, c.1800, comprising sections of granite ashlar retaining walls with pairs of timber lock gates to north-east and to south-west retaining early mechanisms and having integrated pedestrian bridges.Single-span re-inforced concrete road bridge over canal, c.1970, to west probably incorporating fabric of earlier bridge, c.1800. Cut-stone walls to abutments. Single flat span. Re-inforced concrete span. Iron railings to parapet. Sited spanning Grand Canal (Athy Branch). Grass banks to canal.

The 19th Lock (Old) is a fine and well-maintained stand-alone lock situated on the Athy Branch of the Grand Canal. The lock forms a subtle feature on the canal and is one of a group of locks on the section that passes through County Kildare. The construction of the retaining walls is particularly fine and exhibits good quality stone masonry and crisp joints. The lock is of considerable historical and social significance as a reminder of the canal network development in Ireland, which brought about many technical advances and developed commercial activity in the late eighteenth century. An unusual survival is the early mechanisms used to open the timber gates and these are of certain technical/engineering merit. The bridge to west, extensively reconstructed in the late twentieth century, is of some interest, representing the method of bridge building at the time.