Sir Humphry Wakefield, owner of Chillingham Castle, in Northumberland. visited Kendal to discuss restoration work on the Lancaster Canal.
The baronet is a patron of the Owd Lanky Boaters Group, which has adopted the historic flight of eight locks on the Cumbria/Lancashire border, at Tewitfield, near Carnforth.
Lancashire heating engineer Colin Ogden, who runs the group, said Sir Humphry was keen to help "in any way possible" with restoration work at the locks.
The Wakefield family once owned gunpowder works at Sedgwick and Gatebeck, near Kendal, and had a wharf on the Crooklands stretch of the canal.
A new community interest company has been set up by Mr Ogden to carry out voluntary work on the locks. The project is being supported by the Canal and River Trust.
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