Riverswood lock near Ardingly

This lock was about half a mile further upstream of Fulling Mill Lock. I got very confused trying to find this lock, bearing in mind it is 200 years old. It can be clearly seen on the 1875 map but unfortunately the branch line from Haywards Heath to Ardingly runs right over the area where the lock was. When I got to the area where the river Ouse runs under the railway, you can clearly see what looks like one side of the lock wall and it is in the right location. The other wall would have had to be demolished to build the railway arch right next to it. After taking a couple of photos I was attempting to get Mabel, our dog, to come back to me when I saw some brickwork to my left. I knew straight away that it was the lock and the wall I`d been looking at was just a retaining wall built by the railway contractors.

I could clearly see the shape of the lock and a lot of the brickwork and sandstone blocks. It was annoying that a couple of trees had come down right across it but I`ll return one day with a saw to clear them. As with nearly all the locks on the Ouse, the lock was part of a "cut" that went around a part of the river with rapids. This has totally silted-up now.