The Guillotine lock, Todmorden

By the amount of interest being shown here, this is probably the installation of the lock c. 1933. The road was widened here in the 1920s; to allow the lock to remain full length it is believed that a guillotine, or vertically rising, gate was installed. This vertically-rising gate takes up much less space than the conventional mitred gates at the head of the lock. The lock chamber itself can be shorter, as there is no need for room for the gates to swing inwards, nor is there need for space for the balance beams to be moved.