 Thus on the Thames they were called navigation weirs, on the East Anglian rivers they were called staunches, those on the River Avon, Warwickshire were called water gates, and in a number of instances they were called half locks.On the River Nene and some of the tributaries of the River Great Ouse, a design using a guillotine gate in a wooden frame was used from the early seventeenth century onwards.The gate was opened by operating a large spoked wheel, connected by chains to a toothed drum.