New lock gates have been hung on one of Britain's best-preserved and much-loved waterways, in Wiltshire.

The handmade oak gates were installed at the Caen Hill Flight of Locks, near Devizes.

The flight of 16 successive locks forms part of the Devizes flight of 29 locks, which were engineer John Rennie's solution to climbing the very steep hill in Devizes.

These locks were the last part of the 87-mile route of the Kennet & Avon Canal to be completed over 200 years ago.

As part of a GBP1 million project, British Waterways is replacing four sets of bottom lock gates at locks 24, 25, 26 and 27.

At locks 35, 39 and 43 the bottom lock gates will be replaced and the walls between these locks rebuilt. The wall in the pound above lock 28 will also be restored.

Mark Stephens, waterway manager for British Waterways, said: "The Devizes Flight of Locks, including the spectacular Caen Hill Flight, celebrated its 200th birthday in December, so it's fitting that we are able to carry out such a massive maintenance project to help it look forward to a further 200 years."

The lock gates being removed are just over 20 years old - having reached the end of their natural lifespan - and will be replaced with oak gates built at British Waterways' workshop.

Many of Caen Hill's lock gates have been reused and recycled. In 2010, sets of old lock gates were given a new lease of life and transformed into bridges and gateways at the world-famous Glastonbury Festival.