It is recorded (see here) that
Robert Weldon (b:?1754 to d:1810) from Sunderland had a demo. half-sized model of the caisson lock on the Ketley Canal (near Oaken Gates) in working order in Sept. 1792. (The patent is believed to date from June 1792).This obviously impressed the SCC (Somerset Coal Canal) committee.
or maybe (ibid.)
Weldon the patentee and the cassoon is at Wrockwardine, near Lilleshall in Shropshire.
(Which probably means Wrockwardine Wood, where the canal ran, not the village several miles away).
It could have been at the Wrockwardine Wood Inclined Plane, but I have neither seen nor heard of any remains.
It could have been at Hugh's Bridge, near Lilleshall, where there was a tunnel-and-shaft arrangement before the inclined plane there was built - was it considered as an option?
It could not have been at Oakengates, where there is no change of level, but could it have been at Red Lake, at the top of the Ketley Inclined Plane (only a couple of miles from Oakengates).
Could it, conceivably, have been at Brierley Hill, miles away at the other end of the canal system near Coalport, where there is an unexplained shaft: see The Old Wynd Tunnel?
The uncertainty is driving me daft, and a source of frustration to the Somerset Coal Canal Society who are restoring a caisson lock. Does anyone have any information? Please mail me!