Lock experts are throwing their doors open for visitors

The firm of Hargreaves Lock Gates, in the Calder valley town near Halifax, will open its doors to the public for the first time for Saturday’s start of the Rochdale Canal Festival.

Expert lock makers Nigel Lord and Dick Booth were responsible for restoring the lock gates for re-opening the Rochdale Canal.

They also made and installed enormous new gates for the combined Tuel Lane Deep Lock, the deepest lock on an inland waterway in the UK.

The pair ran the Rochdale Canal Workshop at Callis Mill from 1982 until the formation of Hargreaves Lock Gates in 2008

The firm, which is linked to the town’s Hargreaves Foundry, has developed a niche enterprise in making and installing heavy lock equipment, foot and bridle path bridges and canalside furniture.

Between them, Mr Lord and Mr Booth have helped create and install more than 800 pairs of gates and tidal doors around the UK.

Recently, this has included a £600,000 order for 22 pairs of lock gates for the Cotswold canals linking the River Thames with the River Severn in Gloucestershire.

The workshops will be open from 11am until 4pm on Saturday.