Løveid: Where the Canal Began

The locks at Løveid near Skotfoss are the oldest part of the Telemarkskanalen. They were completed in 1861, more than thirty years before the rest of the canal, as part of the original Norsjø-Skien link that connected lake Norsjø to the Skiensfjorden and the coast. Three chambers lift boats 10.3 metres. The walls are built of hewn stone, the gates are wooden, and like all locks on the canal they are still operated by hand. Løveid is where the idea of a navigable waterway through Telemark first became reality, decades before the ambitious extension to Dalen was even approved.