This drawing is based upon the central section of Constable's oil painting Dedham Lock and Mill, which is also in the V&A's collection. It is likely to be a reworking of the painting, rather than a direct drawing from nature. The drawing, though, gives the scene a strikingly different character. Whereas the painting is bathed with sunlight and depicts busy water traffic, the drawing's dramatic use of tone creates an atmosphere of brooding melancholy. Line is hardly evident at all. Nearly all the forms are created with solid blocks of dark sepia ink, with few mid-tones. The tower of Dedham church can be seen in the distance, apparently threatened by the ominous and overhanging forms of the trees.