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Chelmer & Blackwater Navigation H O E M I L L L O C K Lock number: 9 Height: 8 ft 3 ins
"Hoe Mill Lock was built at the end of an artificial cut which made a detour around Hoe Mill, a cron mill that stood nearby until 1914, when it was demolished. The lock chambers were built to a larger specification than those on most canals, thus enabling broader barges, requiring only a two foot draught to navigate the numerous shallows. The balance beams and gates were made on site from locally grown oak and elm. The lock gates are the largest on the navigation because the change in level here; the fall is 8ft 3ins. Trap doors (paddles) are cut in the bottom of the gates, and are lifted and lowered using a winch handle on a cog and ratchet mechanism attached to each gate. The lock paddles on the upper gates of this lock are located in underground side culverts, in order to prevent the swamping of boats when filling this lock. On one side of the lock (constructed 1797) is the lock keeper's house, whilst on the other are the head waters, millpond, and millrace of the former Hoe Mill. Downstream, the lock opens under the modern road bridge and the canal is joined on the right by the River Chelmer. Some 300 yards further, on the left-hand bank is Sugar Baker's Holes. This was the site in the early 1830's of Marriage, Reid & Marriage's sugar beet works (reputedly the first in the country), which used the canal for easy transport of bulky goods. Eventually the low cost of cane sugar undermined the business and the buildings were pulled down, except for a few workers' cottages. A short walk upstream will reveal views of the tiny, attractive 700 year old church of All Saints, Ulting, which stands on the bank of the river, its churchyard stretching to the water's edge. Today Hoe Mill is popular with anglers, boaters and walkers, and is a base for pleasure boats. From here you can follow the towpath, which is a public right of way, upstream to Chelmsford, 10 miles, or downstream to Heybridge Basin, 4 miles."
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