Salters Lode Lock, Well Creek

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Created 30/10/2013, last edited: 14/03/26, 22:03

Introduction

Salters Lode is a hamlet situated on the west bank of the tidal River Great Ouse at a point where the non-tidal rivers Well Creek and the Counter Drain/Old Bedford River (CD/OBR) join it via navigation locks. 

Well Creek is a canalised 8 mile waterway running from Marmont Priory near Upwell to Salters Lode, linking the old course of the River Nene to the Great River Ouse. The waterway was once an important commercial navigation but that ceased in the 1950s and the waterway soon declined into a weed ridden, rubbish strewn stagnant ditch prompting Mr [Frank/Fred?] Hartley, Chairman of the drainage authority (MLC), to tell his board “The Well Creek is an eyesore and has become a burden to the MLDB. Its relationship to sea level means it does not drain one acre of our land therefore I would suggest we fill it in”^{(source: William Smith, Upwell)}.
 
Thanks to the efforts of the Well Creek Trust, the waterway was brought back to life and navigation restored in 1975, and it is now used by many pleasure craft.

The photo below shows the end of the Creek. the mooring point, Salters Lode Lock (leading into the River Great Ouse), the road bridge over it, and the lock-keepers cottage just to the right.

Photo: Peter Cox, 28/08/2007, Olympus SP550UZ
This is all part of the Middle Level system, administered by the Middle Level Commissioners (MLC) and not actually part of the Ouse Washes. But there is a connection, as you will see later ......

According to the Well Creek Trust
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page last updated 14 March 2026

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Google satellite view
River Great Ouse on right.
Well Creek bottom left to topright.
Old Bedford River below, looking black

Salters Lode Lock

Photo: Peter Cox, 28/08/2007, Olympus SP550UZ
According to Samuel Wells, Register of the Bedford Level Corporation, a sluice was originally built here in 1630, and re-built in 1828, both times by BLC.^{(Samuel Wells, 1830 Vol 1 page 724).}  Summers say a new sluice was built here in 1826^{(The Great Level, p.177).} (The differences in dates may indicate start and finish of construction.)

The Well Creek Trust handbook says that a simple sluice was built here in 1556, and the Well Stream [then] ceased to be tidal. The handbook also says that the sluice was "modernised and electrified" in the 1950s, and new gates were fitted in 1981 (p12).

The northern (tidal) end has a steel vertical ("guillotine") gate. This was installed in November 2008, replacing an earlier vertical gate. At the southern end there are two sets of wooden vee gates; the outermost pointing into Well Creek are about 12-13 feet high and hydraulically controlled;  the inner ones point inwards and are 5 feet higher and maually operated. This double arrangement allows use of the lock regardless of whether the tidal river level is higher or lower than in the Creek. Denver had a similar layout with two sets of Vee doors both ends (see diagram on Denver Sluice page) and I think that must have been the same here prior to 1981. The pivot and recess for the inner inward facing vee gates at the tidal end are still evident, but the lock walls beyond were rebuilt for the vertical gate. 

Navigation through the earliest sluice was probably only possible for short periods when the level in the tidal river Ouse was the same as that in Well Creek. When it became a navigable lock regardless of tides, I do not yet know, nor when the Middle Level Commissioners took control from BLC.

Acknowledgements. Text and photos except where noted © Peter Cox, 2010-12 If you think there are any errors or ommissions on this page or would like to comment, please e-mail me and your response will be noted where appropriate.

Index and links

Related pages on this website

Old Bedford Sluice, Salters Lode

Well Creek Weir/Sluice

Welches Dam

Earith Sluice

Earith, start of the washes

Related external websites/pagesty

Well Creek Trust

Middle Level Commissioners