YOU can almost see the movement and hear the roar of the water in this stunning picture of Naburn Lock by photographer Frank Dwyer.

Frank took the photo last week. The water was fairly high, he said: but nothing particularly unusual. What really struck him, however, was the brown, peaty colour of the water.

He’s been told in the past by a lock-keeper that it is possible to tell where water pouring through the lock comes from by its colour.

The Canal & River Trust couldn’t precisely confirm that. But one of the rivers which feeds into the Ouse further upstream is the Swale, said a spokeswoman. “That is a bit more peaty.”

The first lock at Naburn was built in 1757: one of the earliest examples of canal engineering in the country, says the Canal & River Trust. In Victorian times, a larger lock was built alongside the original one to allow large freight barges to pass through. It was opened by Queen Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert Victor.

The Locks, which form the barrier between the tidal and non-tidal river, were once busy with barges transporting goods to and from York to Selby and Hull.

Stephen Lewis