Improvement works totalling £114,000 have just been completed on the Grand Union Canal in Watford.

The work, which has been carried out over the winter months by the Canal & River Trust, forms part of the charity’s major five-month £45 million maintenance programme to improve the 2,000 miles of canals and rivers it cares for across Wales and England.

Over the last few months engineers from the trust have replaced the top lock gates at Iron Bridge Lock and the bottom set of gates at Hunton Bridge Lock, which had both been in place for 25 years.

The new made-to-measure lock gates, which each weigh several tonnes, are handcrafted from seasoned oak to fit perfectly in the lock chamber.

Now in place, the new gates are expected to be in place for another quarter of a century, and help the trust conserve water and keep boats moving along the waterway.

Neil Owen, from the Canal & River Trust, said: "The Grand Union Canal is a real waterway gem, but the canal is over 200-years old so needs plenty of looking after.

"The locks along the canal in Watford are really popular and over time they have suffered from wear and tear so we have to replace the gates every so often.

"Keeping the canal running requires constant maintenance, so we’ve used this winter period, when there are fewer boats travelling on the canal, to get as much done as we can."