It is in the centre of a triangle formed by the small villages of Shifford, Duxford and Chimney in Oxfordshire.

It replaced a flash lock in a weir about 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) downstream.

The original flash lock was in a weir close to the entrance to Great Brook.

The lock cut was based on a pre-existing side channel which was considerably widened.

After the lock was built, the towpath around the old navigation channel fell into disuse.