It formerly fed City Mill, used for the production of chemicals in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The original gates lasted for almost seventy years, but by 2000 were deemed to be unsafe, and were replaced by stop planks.

[4] In 2005, the lock was partially restored as part of the planning gain required from the developers of the adjacent Bellamy Homes housing scheme.

Three sets of new steel gates, manufactured in Sheffield by Mandall Engineering, were installed at a cost of £200,000, and a further £100,000 was spent on general improvements to the area and the access paths to the lock.

[6] The work involved dealing with large amounts of plant growth, particularly water pennywort, Hydrocotyle ranunculoides, a member of the apiaceae, which were treated with herbicides to remove them.