Bingley 5 Rise
The Bingley 5 Rise is the steepest staircase lock on the whole canal waterway in the UK. In 1972, the locks appeared on a satirical BBC2 programme called ‘Black Safari’. The programme turned the ‘white explorer discovers Africa’ trop on its head, and instead saw a group of African explorers discovering deepest darkest England - with the 5 Rise being one of the landmarks they studied.
Originally a French design in the 17th Century, the idea of staircase locks was brought over to Bradford in March 1774 to make it easier to control boats going through. However, it takes around 45 minutes to travel in either direction, and the process wastes a whole lot of water coming through the canal network.
As a result, it wasn’t long after the 5 Rise was built that construction on these types of locks ceased, so it was almost an anachronism even before it was built. Now, though, the locks still cast an impressive mark on the Aire Valley, and you can only imagine what the spectacle was like when it was first opened.
Location: 53.8563619, -1.8382493