You are now at the site of Gennets Wood Lock (Lock 9) and walking along a section of the canal called Bonfire Hanger
The Bonfire Hanger section includes the sites of four canal locks (Locks 9 to 12). These were part of the Sidney Wood flight of nine locks, built at intervals of about 200m, from Lock 8 to Lock 16. Nothing survives above ground of any of the original structures; their sites can only be identified by the change in ground level.
These locks were built of brick and to the best of our knowledge the bricks were recovered for reuse in the 1920s. When WACT rebuilt Gennets Bridge Lock in the period up to 2018, volunteers found numerous remains of the original lock, some of which have been preserved as unusual furniture next to the lock. It is likely that similar remains exist at the Bonfire Hanger locks. Lock 9 is named Gennets Wood, Lock 10 is Bonfire Hanger and Locks 11 and 12 are Westland Copse.
“Hanger” means a wooded slope; old maps show that there was once much more extensive woodland to the east of the canal here.
Next Information Posts
If you are continuing your walk north, there are currently no more Information Posts, but you can continue to follow the canal route up to Rosemary Lane. To the south, the next Information Post is at Devil's Hole Lock (beyond Southland Lock).
Details of a circular walk including this section of the canal can be found here.
