Campos Lock 2

Chapels

Province

Palencia

Branch

Campos

Visit duration

30-60 minutes

Services available

Provincia

Palencia

Ramal

Campos

Duración visita

30-60 minutes

Servicios disponibles

Página web

The Campos Lock 2 heritage complex was built between 1842 and 1849 in the municipality of Capillas (Palencia), at kilometer 132.130 of the Campos Branch of the Castile Canal. This site represents a mature phase of the canal, in which hydraulic engineering was combined with road infrastructure and productive buildings to regulate the water level, facilitate navigation, and take advantage of the drop created by the lock. Its overall function was to overcome the canal’s elevation difference, control flow rates, and channel water to various associated uses.

The lock is a simple, rectangular-bowl type, with approximate dimensions of 28.30 meters long, 5.10 meters wide, and 3.60 meters high. It is constructed of limestone masonry and retains all of the original hydraulic works. Downstream, the bridge face forms a single unit with the weirs at the entrance to the bowl, while on the left bank, a lateral spillway discharges water through an underground conduit into the bowl itself. This conduit is supplemented by the drainage from the same bank, reinforcing hydraulic control. Upstream, on the right bank, begins the conduit for harnessing the drop, which runs underground beneath a now-ruined structure.

Associated with the lock are several elements that complete the functional reading of the complex: the lock bridge, built in limestone ashlar with segmental arches, which spans both the reservoir and the diversion and organizes the joining of flows; the old lock keeper’s house, made of brick, rammed earth and a wooden structure, now in ruins but with protected structural values; and a flour mill, made up of several buildings, which took advantage of the return channel of the old mill and later functioned as a power plant, preserving significant remains of its structure despite its state of ruin.

A visit to Lock 2 in Campos allows one to understand the Canal de Castilla as a complex system where water, industry and territory are articulated in the same space.

How to get there:

The complex is accessed via the towpath on the left bank of the Canal, entering from the Capillas bridge.

Campos Lock 2

Campos Lock 2

Canal areas