Glossary

Page 2. (F thru L)

Footboard:-

A narrow platform (walkway) attached to some lock gates.

Flood Lock:-

A lock located at the high-water end of a navigation cut (i.e., where the river and cut waters are normally level). Both top and bottom gates are kept open except in times of high river levels.

Fly Boat:-

Originally described a horse-drawn boat which used relays of horses and travelled by day and night. Later applied to any type of boat travelling day and night to get to its destination as soon as possible.

Gang Plank:-

A removable plank used to get from one narrow boat to another or to the towing path.

Gate:-

See Lock Gate

Gongoozler:-

Originally an idle and inquisitive person who stands staring for prolonged periods at anything out of the common. The word is believed to have its origin in the Lake District. Now used to describe any bystander interested in watching canal happenings.

Handspike:-

A bar of wood used as a lever to operate a particular type of lock paddle that is now unique to the Calder and Hebble Navigation.

Inclined Plane:-

A mechanical device constructed on a gradient and designed to transport boats from one level of a canal to another using the principle of counterbalance.

Josher:-

A boat style with double curved bows associated with Fellows Morton and Clayton, Ltd.; a large canal company that was absorbed into British Waterways in 1947. Mr. Fellow's name was Joshua.

Legging:-

A method used to propel horse-drawn boats through tunnels which have no towing path, the boatman pushing with his feet against the tunnel walls.

Lifts and Inclined Planes

Other structures to transport a boat from one water level to another.

Lock:-

A device for transporting craft from a higher water level, or vice versa. A typical canal lock consists of a rectangular chamber of brick or stone with gate(s) at either end and a separate means of letting water in at the top or out at the bottom. See Paddles, Windlass and Handspike. "Broad Locks" can accommodate multiple vessels, whereas "Narrow Locks" are designed for a single narrow boat.

Lock Gate:-

Normally a heavy wooden gate with a balance beam, anchored with a collar and turning on a cast iron pin in a pot; the whole thing held in place by water pressure. Broad locks have two pair of mitered gates with the mitre pointing against the water pressure; a narrow lock has one pair at its tail and a single gate at its head, or else a single gate at each end. Some locks have "Guillotine" designed gates.

Locking Up & Locking Down:-

The task of going up or down a lock

More of the Canalictionary:- (A thru E) . | (M thru R) . | (S thru Z) .

Preface ...|... Acquiring our Narrowboat ...|... Cruising the Waterways ...or... The Conclusion

If you have any comments, corrections or additions please sent an EMail to John..... The Canaloholic.