The Oxford Canal at Hillmorton on the eastern edge of Rugby in Warwickshire. At the far left of the picture can be seen the lowest of the three pairs of locks at Hillmorton. The house beside the locks, now a private residence, was once the toll office and toll-keeper's home. The small bridge beside the house carries a footpath over a short arm of the canal; the towpath, however, is on the left of the picture. The canal arm leads to a waterway repair yard and a pair of dry-docks. The white building in the right foreground was originally the repair crew's office, but is now a shop and bistro.

The locks at Hillmorton were originally single, but were doubled in 1840 to cater for increased traffic.

At one time this stretch of the Oxford Canal between Braunston and Coventry was one of the busiest in England. At its height more than 20,000 working boats a year would pass through these locks, mostly carrying coal from the Warwickshire and Leicestershire coalfields, to London, via the Grand Union Canal.