The first lock was built of stone by Daniel Harris for the Thames Navigation Commission in 1790.

After the lock was constructed there were complaints about the raising of the water levels and the effect this had on the meadows upstream at Pixey Mead.

The lock house was built around 1896 on condition that it sold no refreshments to protect the interests of The Trout Inn.

In the meadows near the lock, an Oxford mathematics tutor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson used to have picnics with his friend Dean Henry Liddell and his daughters Lorina, Alice and Edith.

Here he made up a story which began Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and having nothing to do..... when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her...51°46′36″N 1°17′54″W / 51.77667°N 1.29843°W / 51.77667; -1.29843