Built: 1832
Location: 10 Blockhouse Lane
The blockhouse was built in 1832-33 to defend this very strategic lock station. Located on this height-of-land and cleared of surrounding forest, it was designed to withstand attack by Americans from any direction. The lower section, approx. 6m x 6m consists of stone walls 1m thick. The top section is constructed of squared timbers (now clapboarded), dovetailed at the corners and with an overhang of 0.6m.
This blockhouse is one of only four that were ever completed. Legend has it that only once was its militia called out for action, not to fend off a raid by feared foreign raiders, but to quell a local riot at Bully’s Acre at the end of Main St.
Newboro Lock is one of 3 on the Rideau that was modernized with hydraulically-operated steel gates. Community action demanded the preservation of historic aspects of the Rideau Canal, and the other 40 locks of our UNESCO World Heritage Site continue in the original mechanical mode of 1832.