Lock Cottage
When the British canal network was a regular thoroughfare for goods in the 19th century, not only was it inconvenient (and sometimes dangerous) to get on and off boats to open and close gates and paddles, but someone could leave something open exhausting all the water from the pound, raise or lower a single boat when doing two at once was more water-efficient, and all manner of potential problems. This was alleviated by having a lock keeper who lived in a cottage right at the locks who could collect tolls, manage water, keep the network working, relay information, and oftentimes had stables where one could swap out tired barge horses for fresh ones. While there are occasionally volunteers to operate locks (especially on tricky ones such as staircase locks), these lock cottages are now almost all private homes or businesses now.
