21st Lock

Canal lock, built c.1805, consisting of pair of (restored) timber and steel breast gates with timber footboards, tail gates and balance beams. Set within ashlar limestone lock channel. Located to the east of Heatherstown Bridge and to the north of associated lock keeper’s house.

An attractive and well-built canal lock that forms part of an important group of structures associated with the Royal Canal in Westmeath. The quality of the ashlar limestone construction of the lock walls and associated machinery is indicative of the grandiose ambitions of the Royal Canal Company during the early part of the nineteenth century. This lock, along with the lock keeper's house to the south (not recorded), has been designed and constructed with a high level of expertise indicating the importance of their role in the past and remains an important element of the architectural and industrial heritage of Westmeath.