23rd Lock

Double canal lock, c.1785, comprising sections of granite ashlar retaining walls with group of three timber lock gates retaining early mechanisms and having integrated pedestrian bridges. Sited on Grand Canal (Athy Branch).

This canal lock is a fine and well-maintained lock situated on the Grand Canal (Athy Branch). The lock, having raised banks, forms an imposing 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 are the early mechanisms used to open the timber gates and these are of certain technical or engineering merit.