The familiar red sandstone or brownstone of central Connecticut, squared into random-sized blocks, forms the walls of the canal lock and in general remains as firmly in place as when it was first laid. Pockets in the side walls near each end formerly housed the lock gates when these were opened to receive or discharge a canal boat. Since the gates were of wood, all trace of them has long since disappeared, as has the iron hardware on which they were hung. Studs or bolts, however, which once held the gate hinges can be seen protruding from the capstones of the side walls, and it is evidence of the quality of metal used in them that the threads are still in good enough condition to accept a nut of proper size. The lock is about twelve feet in width, the same in depth, and is of a length between gates positions to accommodate the average eighty-five feet length of the old canal boats.
Natural drainage keeps some water in it at all times of the year.
Except for the missing gates, a century of weathering, and overgrowth of vegetation, the installation presents much of the appearance it must have had during the twenty years of its active life. On the east side stands the former lock-keeper's house, now the private residence of the property owner. Comparatively little of the masonry components of the Farmington Canal has escaped destruction by flood or by intentional demolition such as overtook the piers of the aqueduct over the Farmington River farther to the north in the town of Avon. These were demolished by the Corps of Engineers after the flood of 1955. The Cheshire lock is the best preserved relic of the canal era in this state known at present to the Historical Commission.