Building record 502/1/40 - Marina Cottage, Watford Locks

An early C19 canal lock keeper's cottage located at the top of a flight of 7 locks at the summit level of the Leicester branch of the Grand Union canal. The design of the cottage may be attributable to the engineer Benjamin Bevan. The Grand Union Canal was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1810 and the Watford section was opened in 1814. The building is located to the west of the flight of seven locks, known as Watford Locks, (listed at Grade II), which descend from the summit level of the canal. It faces directly onto the upper pond of an associated group of canal reservoir ponds, (also included in the listing) by means of which the lock chambers were replenished.

{1} MATERIALS: painted brick, beneath a hipped roof with a slate covering, lead apex and hip ridges and a single ridge chimney.

PLAN: central-entrance, two-room plan with a rear offshut and a C20 extension to the east elevation.

EXTERIOR: the cottage is of two storeys and two bays, the front ( south) elevation with a central doorway and four-panel door set within a renewed gabled open porch. Flanking the porch are single two- light windows, each light of three panes, set beneath shallow segmental-arched heads. At first floor level are three window openings, the central one blind, the others with frames matching those below. The rear of the building (north elevation) carries a full-height offshut set below a monopitch extension of the rear roof slope.
The west end elevation to the house has a two-light ground floor window, whilst the offshut has two small ground floor window openings, one much smaller than the other, and a two-light upper floor window matching those to the front elevation. The offshut north wall has a single-light window beneath a segmental- arched head and an altered or inserted multi-pane window beneath a shallow flat head. Set back and attached to the east side wall of the house is a small C20 single-storey flat-roofed extension.

INTERIOR: the interior was not inspected, but is believed to have been remodelled, and now with C20
fixtures and fittings.

<1> Historic England, 2016, Marina Cottage, Watford Locks (Designation Advice Report). SNN110497.

Record last edited

Apr 1 2022 3:04PM