Aire and Calder Navigation
Encyclopedia
The Aire and Calder Navigation is a river
and canal
system of the River Aire
and the River Calder
in the metropolitan county
of West Yorkshire
, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the Calder to Wakefield, by the construction of 16 locks. Lock sizes were increased several times, as was the depth of water, to enable larger boats to use the system. The Aire below Haddesley was bypassed by the opening of the Selby Canal
in 1778. A canal from Knottingley to the new docks and new town at Goole provided a much shorter route to the River Ouse
from 1826. The New Junction Canal
was constructed in 1905, to link the system to the River Don Navigation
, by then part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
.
Steam tugs were introduced in 1831. In the 1860s, compartment boats were introduced, later called Tom Pudding
s, from which coal was unloaded into ships by large hydraulic hoists. This system enabled the canal to carry over 1.5 million tons of coal per year at its peak, and was not finally abandoned until 1986. In order to handle trains of compartments, many of the locks were lengthened to 450 feet (137.2 m).
Although much of the upper reaches are now designated as leisure routes, there is still significant commencial traffic on the navigation. 300,000 tons were carried in 2007, although most of the traffic is now petroleum and gravel, rather than the coal which kept the navigation profitable for 150 years.
from Wakefield
to Castleford
, where it joins the branch from Leeds
, which follows the River Aire
. The Aire continues to flow eastwards to Bank Dole Junction, then continues in a north-easterly direction to Haddlesey, from where it follows a winding course to join the River Ouse
at Airmyn
. The section below Haddlesey is no longer part of the navigation, as a derelict lock blocks access to the lower river. Instead, the Selby Canal
flows northwards from Haddlesey to the Ouse at Selby
. Below Dole Bank Junction, the Knottingley and Goole Canal flows eastards to join the Ouse at Goole
. From just before Newbridge, where the modern A614 road crosses the waterway, this branch of the navigation runs parallel to the Dutch River, an artificial channel built in 1635 to alleviate flooding caused by Cornelius Vermuyden
's original diversion of the River Don northwards to the River Aire in 1628.
The Aire and Calder still fulfils its original purpose of linking Leeds and Wakefield with York
and the Humber
(and thence the Trent
), although the routes by which this is achieved have changed significantly. More recent canals now also make the Navigation a vital link in the English and Welsh connected inland waterway network. Beyond Leeds, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
carries boats over the Pennines. The Calder and Hebble Navigation
, which connects to the Navigation at Wakefield, allows boats to reach the Huddersfield Broad
and Narrow
Canals, and the Rochdale Canal
. The Selby Canal connects to the Ouse, from where boats can travel upstream to reach York, Boroughbridge
and Ripon
, or downstream to the River Derwent
. Beyond Goole are the Humber and hence Hull
, Immingham
, and the North Sea. The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
, which can be reached via the New Junction Canal
, forms a link with Doncaster
, Rotherham
and Sheffield
to the south west, and the tidal River Trent
at Keadby
to the east.
for improvements to the river in 1679, again without success, but as the 1600s drew to a close, a number of bills were passed for other rivers, and there was general support for river navigations. A bill was drawn up in 1698, with support from wool traders in Leeds and general merchants in Wakefield. John Hadley surveyed the Aire, and Samual Shelton surveyed the Calder. Although the bill had a lot of support, it was opposed by the City of York, who feared that the River Ouse
would be damaged by the scheme.
The parliamentary bill was hotly contested, and the House of Lords asked Trinity House
to produce a report on the three rivers. This favoured the scheme, and in May 1699 the act of Parliament was granted. It named 18 undertakers, nine from the Corporation of Leeds, and nine "gentlemen of Wakefield", who would oversee the improvements to the River Aire (from the River Ouse
at Airmyn
via Castleford
to Leeds
) and the River Calder (from Castleford to Wakefield
). The act gave them powers which included the creation of weirs bypassed by short "cuts" equipped with locks, the creation of a towpath
, and the right to buy and demolish mills and weir
s. John Hadley was engaged as the engineer immediately, and by 1704 the original work was completed, including 12 locks on the Aire between Haddesley and Leeds and 4 on the Calder. The locks were 58 to 60 ft (17.7 to 18.3 m) long by 14.5 to 15 ft (4.4 to 4.6 m) wide with 3.5 feet (1.1 m) depths over the sills.
Capital to fund the scheme had been raised separately by the Wakefield and Leeds committees. A complicated restructuring of the finances in 1721 fixed the nominal capital at £26,700. Regular dividends at 7 per cent were paid to the shareholders from 1718, and the navigation was leased to various groups, who would be responsible for collection of tolls and repairs. The lease rose from £800 in 1704 to £2,600 in 1729, when receipts from each of the previous five years had averaged £6,016. The early trade consisted mainly of woollen goods from Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax
and Bradford
, with wool and corn from Lincolnshire
and East Anglia
travelling in the opposite direction. By the 1720s there were also significant quantities of coal.
to suggest improvements in 1771, but the subsequent attempt to authorise such improvements was disputed in Parliament on the basis that the present navigation was totally inadequate. The recently finished Calder and Hebble Navigation
proposed to build a canal from Wakefield to the Dutch River, which would bypass the Calder completely, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
supported a Leeds to Selby canal, which would bypass the Aire. During 1772, they asked Smeaton to survey a route to avoid the lower Aire, but his assistant, William Jessop
actually carried out the work. He proposed a 7.25 miles (11.7 km) canal from Haddlesey lock to the Ouse at Newland. With Parliament not reaching a decision, they re-worked their plan, which was now for a 5.25 miles (8.4 km) canal from Haddesley to Selby
, with a new cut from Ferrybridge to Beal, and improvements above Castleford. In 1774 the Leeds to Selby bill was rejected by Parliament, but the Aire and Calder bill was passed, with a few amendments.
Construction of the Selby Canal
began in 1775, and it was opened on 29 April 1778. The new cut at Castleford opened in spring 1775, while those at Knostrop and Hunslet
were finished in 1779. Methley
cut was completed, but Woodlesford
was not, as the company bought the mill there instead. All locks were replaced, and the total cost was over £60,000, of which around £20,000 was for the Selby Canal. The navigation remained profitable, paying £9,000 in dividends in 1775, which had risen to £32,000 by 1791. Most traffic now used the Selby route, and the transhipment facilities at Airmyn were closed in 1779.
Selby was the upper limit for sea-going ships at the time, and became a major transhipment port for the smaller boats using the canal. Canal boats were limited to about 60 tons, whereas ships of up to 200 tons could reach Selby. By 1800, it was handling some 369,780 tons of goods, and the support industries of ropemaking, sailmaking and shipbuilding were expanding.
, and another for a Went and Wakefield Canal, to connect Cold Hiendley on the Barnsley Canal
to Newbridge on the Don. With revenue from tolls reaching £82,092 in 1818, which enabled a dividend of £54,000 to be paid, the company was in a healthy state, and proposed their own route from Haddlesey to the Dutch River. The destination was then changed to Goole
, and John Rennie was asked to survey the route. Those opposing the scheme were placated by a clause which ensured the Aire to Airmyn and the Selby Canal would be maintained. In July 1821, Rennie proposed the construction of docks at Goole, rather than a lock into the river, and the company proposed that 7 feet (2.1 m) of water should be available. Rennie died in late 1821, and George Leather took over as engineer. Construction at Goole started on 28 September 1822, and the company eventually built much of the new town as well as the docks.
The canal and docks opened on 20 July 1826. A barge lock, 72.5 by and a ship lock, 120 by, capable of taking vessels up to 400 tons, connected the extensive docks to the Ouse. The new section was 18.7 miles (30.1 km) long, with locks at Ferrybridge
, Whitley
, Pollington
and Goole. The connection to the Aire and the Selby canal was maintained by the lock at Bank Dole. Goole became an official port in 1827, when it gained its own Customs facilities. The scheme had cost £361,484, of which £221,350 had been borrowed, while the rest came from company resources.
Faced with yet another outside scheme which would bypass the navigation from Wakefield to Ferrybridge, the company looked at improvements which would give 7 feet (2.1 m) of water all the way to both Leeds and Wakefield. Thomas Telford
surveyed both routes, and it became the basis for an act of Parliament which was passed in June 1828. It included a clause to ensure that the Selby Canal was maintained with a depth of water of 5 feet (1.5 m), and made provision for extensions to Goole docks. Work started on a new cut at Castleford and on the line to Leeds, but legal action over the Selby Canal meant that it had to be made deeper and wider in 1832 and 1833. The Leeds line was completed in April 1835, somewhat later than anticipated, as the banks were made more substantial, in order to cope with steam tugs, which would be introduced in due course. The seven locks above Castelford were all 18 feet (5.5 m) wide. Improvements to the Calder to Wakefield took longer, as there were problems with floods filling the workings, difficulty with constructing foundations for an aqueduct which would carry the navigation over the River Calder at Stanley Ferry
, and then in transporting the castings for the aqueduct to the site. The cost of the improvements ran to around £510,000.
replaced him, and introduced tugs with propellers soon afterwards. These could tow ten keels
, carrying 700 tons, but were held up at locks, as the keels had to be worked through one at a time. Between 1860 and 1867, the locks from Goole to Castleford were extended to 206 by to alleviate this.
In 1861, Bartholomew met with the chairman, Warde-Aldam, to propose a system of sectional boats, each consisting of six compartments, with a bow and stern section. The compartments or tubs would be unloaded into ships by a hydraulic hoist at Goole, which would lift them from the water and tip them over. Warde-Aldam thought that such a system could carry 45,000 tons of coal per year, and £13,382 was allocated for three train boats, a hoist, and hydraulic machinery to control the hoist and the lock into the docks. By late 1864, the prototypes were operational, with the stern section replaced by a pusher tug
. Soon afterwards, extra compartments were ordered, as experience showed that a tug and seven compartments could fit into the larger locks. In 1874, Warde-Aldam noted that "...the people now call them 'Tom Pudding
s' from their wobbling gait." The length of the trains increased to ten or eleven tubs, but such a train was difficult to steer from the rear, and so the tugs moved to the front and pulled the assembly. In 1880 they carried 151,860 tons, and by 1913 there were 18 tugs, 1,010 compartments, and 1,560,006 tons were carried, 33 times Warde-Aldam's original estimate.
After the First World War, another programme of improvements to the locks was carried out, extending the locks to 457 feet (139.3 m), which enabled trains of 19 compartments to operate regularly. Experiments with trains as long as 38 tubs were carried out, but the difficulty of splitting the train to pass through the locks meant that 19 was the usual maximum. The compartments were still being used to carry around half a million tons of coal until the late 1960s, long after most British canals had ceased to be used for commercial traffic, but the gradual demise of the coal industry led to compartment traffic ceasing in 1986.
The 20th century saw two major phases of improvement. In 1905, the New Junction Canal
connected the Aire and Calder to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
near Stainforth. It was funded by the Aire and Calder, with the Don Navigation eventually meeting half the cost. During the 1960s, the navigation underwent another modernisation scheme, in which the locks from Goole to Leeds were upgraded and enlarged to accommodate vessels conforming to the 700-tonne Euro-barge standard. There is some variation in lock sizes, with the smallest being at Knostrop, which is 203 by with a water depth of 8.4 feet (2.6 m) over the lock cill. Euro barges are 200 by, and when fully loaded with 600 tonnes of cargo, have a draught of 8.2 feet (2.5 m). Locks on the Wakefield section can accommodate vessels which are 141 by with a draught of 7.5 feet (2.3 m), while the locks below Castleford have three sets of gates, so that a 200 feet (61 m) section can be used, rather than the full 457 feet (139.3 m) required by the compartment boats.
The main problem with upgrading the Wakefield branch was the dimensions of George Leather's cast iron aqueduct over the River Calder at Stanley Ferry. Structural analysis showed that parts of the ironwork were overloaded, and so in 1981 a new concrete aqueduct was cast by John Laing Construction Ltd, on a site a little further upstream. The complete structure was then pushed into position by hydraulic jacks in a six-day operation, after which the navigation was diverted over it, although the old aqueduct was left in place and can still be used.
Although coal mining was one of the main reasons for the success of the navigation, it has also brought problems, caused by subsidence. In March 1988, the bank near Lemonroyd lock collapsed into St Aidens opencast mine, which then flooded. A significant factor was the presence of excavations below the opencast workings where lower coal seams had previously been mined. The failure resulted in some 780000 cubic yards (596,352.8 m³) of material, including the banks of the river and the canal, slipping into the workings, which then flooded to a depth of 230 feet (70.1 m), creating a lake which covered 250 acres (101.2 ha). An act of Parliament was obtained to allow 1.9 miles (3.1 km) of new waterway to be constructed. The original locks at Kippax
and Lemonroyd were replaced by a single lock at Lemonroyd. Opencast mining finally resumed ten years later, after the site had been pumped out, but the coal reserves are now exhausted, and the site forms a nature reserve, with wet grasslands, reedbeds and open water covering 740 acres (299.5 ha).
"C" power station. Starting in 1967, Cawoods Hargreaves used trains of three tubs or coal pans, which were rigidly connected, and pushed by a tug when loaded. The trains were filled with coal using canalside chutes at the colliery and pushed to the power station, where a hoist lifted each pan from the canal and upturned it to drop it contents onto a conveyor belt. Nine tugs and 35 pans were employed, with each pan holding around 170 tonnes. By the time the final load left Astley colliery in December 2002, 43 million tonnes had been delivered to Ferrybridge in this way. Experiments were made with trains of four pans, which allowed copper pipes to be carried on top of the coal for delivery to Goole, but this was short-lived. Coal carrying came to an abrupt halt during the late 20th century when the St Aidens opencast mine was exhausted and the coal from Kellingley colliery was found to have levels of sulphur content way above the acceptable limit. During 2008, three of the trains were used on the River Don, to transport 250,000 tonnes of limestone from a quarry at Cadeby to Hexthorpe.
British Waterways introduced a similar system in September 1974. Called BACAT, for Barges Aboard Catamaran, the system consisted of trains of barges, which were pushed by a tug, and which would be loaded between the twin hulls of a custom-built delivery ship. The ship would then transport them across the North Sea to continental waterways, without their contents having to be transshipped. The concept failed after 18 months, as the dock workers at Hull blacklisted the entire British Waterways fleet, because they believed that the system would threaten their jobs. Most of the commercial traffic using the navigation now consists of petroleum tankers and gravel barges.
Much of the ex-industrial (western) part of the Navigation now has the appearance of a tree-lined, gently-twisting river. The eastern part of the Navigation, sometimes known as the Knottingley and Goole Canal, is rather different: it has long straight stretches, but mainly through flat land that has always been agricultural. Between Wakefield and Leeds, via Castleford, the navigation is part of a circular cruising route or "ring", formed by the Leeds & Liverpool and the Huddersfield
or Rochdale
canals. The Outer Pennine Ring
utilises the Huddersfield Canal, while the North Pennine Ring
uses the Rochdale Canal for the southern crossing of the Pennines. Beyond Castleford, boaters can travel on to Selby, York, Goole, Sheffield, and Keadby. With the possible restoration of the Barnsley Canal
and the Dearne and Dove Canal
, the section between Wakefield and the New Junction Canal
might become part of a new "Yorkshire Ring
".
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
and canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
system of the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
and the River Calder
River Calder, West Yorkshire
The River Calder is a river in West Yorkshire, in Northern England.The Calder rises on the green eastern slopes of the Pennines flows through alternating green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford.The river's valley is...
in the metropolitan county
Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million...
of West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England. The first improvements to the rivers above Knottingley were completed in 1704 when the Aire was made navigable to Leeds and the Calder to Wakefield, by the construction of 16 locks. Lock sizes were increased several times, as was the depth of water, to enable larger boats to use the system. The Aire below Haddesley was bypassed by the opening of the Selby Canal
Selby Canal
The Selby Canal is a canal with 2 locks which bypasses the lower reaches of the River Aire in Yorkshire, England, from the village of West Haddlesey to the town of Selby where it joins the River Ouse. It opened in 1778, and provided the main outlet for the Aire and Calder Navigation until 1826,...
in 1778. A canal from Knottingley to the new docks and new town at Goole provided a much shorter route to the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
from 1826. The New Junction Canal
New Junction Canal
The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation , although it was jointly funded by the Aire and Calder Navigation, and was opened in 1905. It links the River Don Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal with the Aire...
was constructed in 1905, to link the system to the River Don Navigation
River Don Navigation
The River Don Navigation was the result of early efforts to make the River Don in South Yorkshire, England, navigable between Fishlake and Sheffield...
, by then part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation is a system of navigable inland waterways in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England....
.
Steam tugs were introduced in 1831. In the 1860s, compartment boats were introduced, later called Tom Pudding
Tom Pudding
Tom Pudding was the name given to the tub boats on the Aire and Calder Navigation, introduced in 1863 and used until 1985, which were a very efficient means of transferring and transporting coal from the open cast collieries of the South Yorkshire Coalfield near Stanley Ferry to the port of Goole,...
s, from which coal was unloaded into ships by large hydraulic hoists. This system enabled the canal to carry over 1.5 million tons of coal per year at its peak, and was not finally abandoned until 1986. In order to handle trains of compartments, many of the locks were lengthened to 450 feet (137.2 m).
Although much of the upper reaches are now designated as leisure routes, there is still significant commencial traffic on the navigation. 300,000 tons were carried in 2007, although most of the traffic is now petroleum and gravel, rather than the coal which kept the navigation profitable for 150 years.
Route
The Aire and Calder is a canalisation of the River CalderRiver Calder, West Yorkshire
The River Calder is a river in West Yorkshire, in Northern England.The Calder rises on the green eastern slopes of the Pennines flows through alternating green countryside, former woollen-mill villages, and large and small towns before joining the River Aire near Castleford.The river's valley is...
from Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
to Castleford
Castleford
Castleford is the largest of the "five towns" district in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract, and has a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census, but has seen a rise in recent years and is now around 45-50,000. To the north...
, where it joins the branch from Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, which follows the River Aire
River Aire
The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length . Part of the river is canalised, and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation....
. The Aire continues to flow eastwards to Bank Dole Junction, then continues in a north-easterly direction to Haddlesey, from where it follows a winding course to join the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
at Airmyn
Airmyn
Airmyn is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated at the mouth of the River Aire with the River Ouse, approximately north west of Goole. It lies to the west of the M62 motorway and the A614 road...
. The section below Haddlesey is no longer part of the navigation, as a derelict lock blocks access to the lower river. Instead, the Selby Canal
Selby Canal
The Selby Canal is a canal with 2 locks which bypasses the lower reaches of the River Aire in Yorkshire, England, from the village of West Haddlesey to the town of Selby where it joins the River Ouse. It opened in 1778, and provided the main outlet for the Aire and Calder Navigation until 1826,...
flows northwards from Haddlesey to the Ouse at Selby
Selby
Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...
. Below Dole Bank Junction, the Knottingley and Goole Canal flows eastards to join the Ouse at Goole
Goole
Goole is a town, civil parish and port located approximately inland on the confluence of the rivers Don and Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England...
. From just before Newbridge, where the modern A614 road crosses the waterway, this branch of the navigation runs parallel to the Dutch River, an artificial channel built in 1635 to alleviate flooding caused by Cornelius Vermuyden
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Wasterdyk Vermuyden was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch reclamation methods to Britain, and made the first important attempts to drain The Fens of East Anglia.-Life:...
's original diversion of the River Don northwards to the River Aire in 1628.
The Aire and Calder still fulfils its original purpose of linking Leeds and Wakefield with York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
and the Humber
Humber
The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal River Ouse and the tidal River Trent. From here to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the East Riding of Yorkshire on the north bank...
(and thence the Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
), although the routes by which this is achieved have changed significantly. More recent canals now also make the Navigation a vital link in the English and Welsh connected inland waterway network. Beyond Leeds, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
carries boats over the Pennines. The Calder and Hebble Navigation
Calder and Hebble Navigation
The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a Broad inland waterway in West Yorkshire, England, which has remained navigable since it was opened.-History:...
, which connects to the Navigation at Wakefield, allows boats to reach the Huddersfield Broad
Huddersfield Broad Canal
The Huddersfield Broad Canal is a wide-locked navigable canal in Yorkshire in northern England.The waterway is 3¾ miles long and has 9 wide locks...
and Narrow
Huddersfield Narrow Canal
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley Basin at Huddersfield to the junction with the Ashton Canal at Whitelands Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne...
Canals, and the Rochdale Canal
Rochdale Canal
The Rochdale Canal is a navigable "broad" canal in northern England, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. The "Rochdale" in its name refers to the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, through which the canal passes....
. The Selby Canal connects to the Ouse, from where boats can travel upstream to reach York, Boroughbridge
Boroughbridge
Boroughbridge is a small town and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of York. Until its bypass was built, it was on the main A1 road from London to Edinburgh...
and Ripon
Ripon
Ripon is a cathedral city, market town and successor parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located at the confluence of two streams of the River Ure in the form of the Laver and Skell. The city is noted for its main feature the Ripon Cathedral which is architecturally...
, or downstream to the River Derwent
River Derwent, Yorkshire
The Derwent is a river in Yorkshire in the north of England. It is used for water abstraction, leisure and sporting activities and effluent disposal as well as being of significant importance as the site of several nature reserves...
. Beyond Goole are the Humber and hence Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
, and the North Sea. The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation is a system of navigable inland waterways in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England....
, which can be reached via the New Junction Canal
New Junction Canal
The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation , although it was jointly funded by the Aire and Calder Navigation, and was opened in 1905. It links the River Don Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal with the Aire...
, forms a link with Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
and Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
to the south west, and the tidal River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
at Keadby
Keadby
Keadby is a small village lying just off the A18, west of Scunthorpe, in North Lincolnshire, England. It lies on the West bank of the River Trent. It is pronounced "Kidby"....
to the east.
History
In the early 1600s, the river Aire was navigable to Knottingley, and boats carrying up to 30 tons traded on the river, which was tidal up to this point. The traders of Leeds were keen to have a navigable link to the town, to make the export of woollen cloth easier, but bills presented to Parliament in 1621 and 1625 had failed. William Pickering, who was mayor of Leeds, had made further attempts to obtain an act of ParliamentAct of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
for improvements to the river in 1679, again without success, but as the 1600s drew to a close, a number of bills were passed for other rivers, and there was general support for river navigations. A bill was drawn up in 1698, with support from wool traders in Leeds and general merchants in Wakefield. John Hadley surveyed the Aire, and Samual Shelton surveyed the Calder. Although the bill had a lot of support, it was opposed by the City of York, who feared that the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
would be damaged by the scheme.
The parliamentary bill was hotly contested, and the House of Lords asked Trinity House
Trinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
to produce a report on the three rivers. This favoured the scheme, and in May 1699 the act of Parliament was granted. It named 18 undertakers, nine from the Corporation of Leeds, and nine "gentlemen of Wakefield", who would oversee the improvements to the River Aire (from the River Ouse
River Ouse, Yorkshire
The River Ouse is a river in North Yorkshire, England. The river is formed from the River Ure at Cuddy Shaw Reach near Linton-on-Ouse, about 6 miles downstream of the confluence of the River Swale with the River Ure...
at Airmyn
Airmyn
Airmyn is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated at the mouth of the River Aire with the River Ouse, approximately north west of Goole. It lies to the west of the M62 motorway and the A614 road...
via Castleford
Castleford
Castleford is the largest of the "five towns" district in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is near Pontefract, and has a population of 37,525 according to the 2001 Census, but has seen a rise in recent years and is now around 45-50,000. To the north...
to Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
) and the River Calder (from Castleford to Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....
). The act gave them powers which included the creation of weirs bypassed by short "cuts" equipped with locks, the creation of a towpath
Towpath
A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge...
, and the right to buy and demolish mills and weir
Weir
A weir is a small overflow dam used to alter the flow characteristics of a river or stream. In most cases weirs take the form of a barrier across the river that causes water to pool behind the structure , but allows water to flow over the top...
s. John Hadley was engaged as the engineer immediately, and by 1704 the original work was completed, including 12 locks on the Aire between Haddesley and Leeds and 4 on the Calder. The locks were 58 to 60 ft (17.7 to 18.3 m) long by 14.5 to 15 ft (4.4 to 4.6 m) wide with 3.5 feet (1.1 m) depths over the sills.
Capital to fund the scheme had been raised separately by the Wakefield and Leeds committees. A complicated restructuring of the finances in 1721 fixed the nominal capital at £26,700. Regular dividends at 7 per cent were paid to the shareholders from 1718, and the navigation was leased to various groups, who would be responsible for collection of tolls and repairs. The lease rose from £800 in 1704 to £2,600 in 1729, when receipts from each of the previous five years had averaged £6,016. The early trade consisted mainly of woollen goods from Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
and Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, with wool and corn from Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
and East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
travelling in the opposite direction. By the 1720s there were also significant quantities of coal.
Development
Some development of the navigation occurred. In 1744, the undertakers bought some land at Airmyn, and developed warehousing and wharfage there, as a more convenient point than Rawcliffe, where the water was shallower. In the 1760s, £13,000 was spent on improvements and maintenance, with several weirs being rebuilt to improve the depth of water. There was a long-running dispute with Arthur Ingram, who owned Knottingley mill, which started in 1731, and was not finally resolved until 1776, when the company bought both of Ingram's mills. Despite this, the general profitability of the navigation led the undertakers to be complacent about its development. The asked John SmeatonJohn Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
to suggest improvements in 1771, but the subsequent attempt to authorise such improvements was disputed in Parliament on the basis that the present navigation was totally inadequate. The recently finished Calder and Hebble Navigation
Calder and Hebble Navigation
The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a Broad inland waterway in West Yorkshire, England, which has remained navigable since it was opened.-History:...
proposed to build a canal from Wakefield to the Dutch River, which would bypass the Calder completely, and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
supported a Leeds to Selby canal, which would bypass the Aire. During 1772, they asked Smeaton to survey a route to avoid the lower Aire, but his assistant, William Jessop
William Jessop
William Jessop was an English civil engineer, best known for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.-Early life:...
actually carried out the work. He proposed a 7.25 miles (11.7 km) canal from Haddlesey lock to the Ouse at Newland. With Parliament not reaching a decision, they re-worked their plan, which was now for a 5.25 miles (8.4 km) canal from Haddesley to Selby
Selby
Selby is a town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Situated south of the city of York, along the course of the River Ouse, Selby is the largest and, with a population of 13,012, most populous settlement of the wider Selby local government district.Historically a part of the West Riding...
, with a new cut from Ferrybridge to Beal, and improvements above Castleford. In 1774 the Leeds to Selby bill was rejected by Parliament, but the Aire and Calder bill was passed, with a few amendments.
Construction of the Selby Canal
Selby Canal
The Selby Canal is a canal with 2 locks which bypasses the lower reaches of the River Aire in Yorkshire, England, from the village of West Haddlesey to the town of Selby where it joins the River Ouse. It opened in 1778, and provided the main outlet for the Aire and Calder Navigation until 1826,...
began in 1775, and it was opened on 29 April 1778. The new cut at Castleford opened in spring 1775, while those at Knostrop and Hunslet
Hunslet
Hunslet is an inner-city area in south Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is south east of the city centre and has an industrial past.Hunslet had many engineering companies based in the district, such as John Fowler & Co...
were finished in 1779. Methley
Methley
Methley is a dispersed village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, south east of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is located near Rothwell, Oulton, Woodlesford, Mickletown and Allerton Bywater. It nestles in the triangle formed by Leeds, Castleford and Wakefield, and is between the...
cut was completed, but Woodlesford
Woodlesford
Woodlesford is a village in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England, six miles south-east of Leeds city centre. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. Woodlesford is formerly part of the Rothwell Urban District...
was not, as the company bought the mill there instead. All locks were replaced, and the total cost was over £60,000, of which around £20,000 was for the Selby Canal. The navigation remained profitable, paying £9,000 in dividends in 1775, which had risen to £32,000 by 1791. Most traffic now used the Selby route, and the transhipment facilities at Airmyn were closed in 1779.
Selby was the upper limit for sea-going ships at the time, and became a major transhipment port for the smaller boats using the canal. Canal boats were limited to about 60 tons, whereas ships of up to 200 tons could reach Selby. By 1800, it was handling some 369,780 tons of goods, and the support industries of ropemaking, sailmaking and shipbuilding were expanding.
Knottingley to Goole
In 1817, there was a proposal for an Aire and Dun Canal, to connect Knottingley to the Dutch River at Newbridge, with a branch to DoncasterDoncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, and another for a Went and Wakefield Canal, to connect Cold Hiendley on the Barnsley Canal
Barnsley Canal
The Barnsley Canal is a canal that ran from Barnby Basin, through Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England to a junction with the Aire and Calder Navigation near Wakefield. It was long and included 15 locks. It was taken over by the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1854, and despite competition from the...
to Newbridge on the Don. With revenue from tolls reaching £82,092 in 1818, which enabled a dividend of £54,000 to be paid, the company was in a healthy state, and proposed their own route from Haddlesey to the Dutch River. The destination was then changed to Goole
Goole
Goole is a town, civil parish and port located approximately inland on the confluence of the rivers Don and Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England...
, and John Rennie was asked to survey the route. Those opposing the scheme were placated by a clause which ensured the Aire to Airmyn and the Selby Canal would be maintained. In July 1821, Rennie proposed the construction of docks at Goole, rather than a lock into the river, and the company proposed that 7 feet (2.1 m) of water should be available. Rennie died in late 1821, and George Leather took over as engineer. Construction at Goole started on 28 September 1822, and the company eventually built much of the new town as well as the docks.
The canal and docks opened on 20 July 1826. A barge lock, 72.5 by and a ship lock, 120 by, capable of taking vessels up to 400 tons, connected the extensive docks to the Ouse. The new section was 18.7 miles (30.1 km) long, with locks at Ferrybridge
Ferrybridge
Ferrybridge is a village in West Yorkshire, England at a historically important crossing of the River Aire. It is linked to other communities by the A1, which follows the route of the Great North Road....
, Whitley
Whitley, North Yorkshire
Whitley is a village in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England, close to the Aire and Calder Navigation and the M62 motorway....
, Pollington
Pollington
Pollington is a village and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately south west of the town of Snaith and south of the M62 motorway...
and Goole. The connection to the Aire and the Selby canal was maintained by the lock at Bank Dole. Goole became an official port in 1827, when it gained its own Customs facilities. The scheme had cost £361,484, of which £221,350 had been borrowed, while the rest came from company resources.
Faced with yet another outside scheme which would bypass the navigation from Wakefield to Ferrybridge, the company looked at improvements which would give 7 feet (2.1 m) of water all the way to both Leeds and Wakefield. Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...
surveyed both routes, and it became the basis for an act of Parliament which was passed in June 1828. It included a clause to ensure that the Selby Canal was maintained with a depth of water of 5 feet (1.5 m), and made provision for extensions to Goole docks. Work started on a new cut at Castleford and on the line to Leeds, but legal action over the Selby Canal meant that it had to be made deeper and wider in 1832 and 1833. The Leeds line was completed in April 1835, somewhat later than anticipated, as the banks were made more substantial, in order to cope with steam tugs, which would be introduced in due course. The seven locks above Castelford were all 18 feet (5.5 m) wide. Improvements to the Calder to Wakefield took longer, as there were problems with floods filling the workings, difficulty with constructing foundations for an aqueduct which would carry the navigation over the River Calder at Stanley Ferry
Stanley Ferry Aqueduct
Stanley Ferry Aqueduct was built between 1836 and 1839 to take the Aire and Calder Navigation over the River Calder in West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the earliest through arch bridges in the world and is considered to be the largest aqueduct executed in cast iron.Designed by George Leather...
, and then in transporting the castings for the aqueduct to the site. The cost of the improvements ran to around £510,000.
Modernisation
The Aire and Calder tried to work with the railways when they arrived in the 1840s, by making traffic agreements, but still suffered a significant drop in trade. Receipts dropped by one-third between 1851 and 1856. Thomas Hammond Bartholemew, the chief engineer, had been experimenting with steam power since 1813, and steam paddle tugs had been operating on the system since 1831. When he died in late 1852, two-thirds of the traffic was pulled by steam tugs. His son, William Hamond BartholomewWilliam Hamond Bartholomew
William Hamond Bartholomew was an engineer in West Yorkshire, England who was responsible for the expansion of the Aire and Calder Navigation in the 19th century and invented a number of improvements in coal-handling which led to the expansion of Goole as one of the largest exporters of coal in...
replaced him, and introduced tugs with propellers soon afterwards. These could tow ten keels
Humber Keel
The Humber Keel was a type of sail craft used for inshore and inland cargo transport around Hull and the Humber Estuary, in the United Kingdom, particularly through the late 19th and early 20th centuries....
, carrying 700 tons, but were held up at locks, as the keels had to be worked through one at a time. Between 1860 and 1867, the locks from Goole to Castleford were extended to 206 by to alleviate this.
In 1861, Bartholomew met with the chairman, Warde-Aldam, to propose a system of sectional boats, each consisting of six compartments, with a bow and stern section. The compartments or tubs would be unloaded into ships by a hydraulic hoist at Goole, which would lift them from the water and tip them over. Warde-Aldam thought that such a system could carry 45,000 tons of coal per year, and £13,382 was allocated for three train boats, a hoist, and hydraulic machinery to control the hoist and the lock into the docks. By late 1864, the prototypes were operational, with the stern section replaced by a pusher tug
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
. Soon afterwards, extra compartments were ordered, as experience showed that a tug and seven compartments could fit into the larger locks. In 1874, Warde-Aldam noted that "...the people now call them 'Tom Pudding
Tom Pudding
Tom Pudding was the name given to the tub boats on the Aire and Calder Navigation, introduced in 1863 and used until 1985, which were a very efficient means of transferring and transporting coal from the open cast collieries of the South Yorkshire Coalfield near Stanley Ferry to the port of Goole,...
s' from their wobbling gait." The length of the trains increased to ten or eleven tubs, but such a train was difficult to steer from the rear, and so the tugs moved to the front and pulled the assembly. In 1880 they carried 151,860 tons, and by 1913 there were 18 tugs, 1,010 compartments, and 1,560,006 tons were carried, 33 times Warde-Aldam's original estimate.
After the First World War, another programme of improvements to the locks was carried out, extending the locks to 457 feet (139.3 m), which enabled trains of 19 compartments to operate regularly. Experiments with trains as long as 38 tubs were carried out, but the difficulty of splitting the train to pass through the locks meant that 19 was the usual maximum. The compartments were still being used to carry around half a million tons of coal until the late 1960s, long after most British canals had ceased to be used for commercial traffic, but the gradual demise of the coal industry led to compartment traffic ceasing in 1986.
The 20th century saw two major phases of improvement. In 1905, the New Junction Canal
New Junction Canal
The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation , although it was jointly funded by the Aire and Calder Navigation, and was opened in 1905. It links the River Don Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal with the Aire...
connected the Aire and Calder to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation
The Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation is a system of navigable inland waterways in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England....
near Stainforth. It was funded by the Aire and Calder, with the Don Navigation eventually meeting half the cost. During the 1960s, the navigation underwent another modernisation scheme, in which the locks from Goole to Leeds were upgraded and enlarged to accommodate vessels conforming to the 700-tonne Euro-barge standard. There is some variation in lock sizes, with the smallest being at Knostrop, which is 203 by with a water depth of 8.4 feet (2.6 m) over the lock cill. Euro barges are 200 by, and when fully loaded with 600 tonnes of cargo, have a draught of 8.2 feet (2.5 m). Locks on the Wakefield section can accommodate vessels which are 141 by with a draught of 7.5 feet (2.3 m), while the locks below Castleford have three sets of gates, so that a 200 feet (61 m) section can be used, rather than the full 457 feet (139.3 m) required by the compartment boats.
The main problem with upgrading the Wakefield branch was the dimensions of George Leather's cast iron aqueduct over the River Calder at Stanley Ferry. Structural analysis showed that parts of the ironwork were overloaded, and so in 1981 a new concrete aqueduct was cast by John Laing Construction Ltd, on a site a little further upstream. The complete structure was then pushed into position by hydraulic jacks in a six-day operation, after which the navigation was diverted over it, although the old aqueduct was left in place and can still be used.
Although coal mining was one of the main reasons for the success of the navigation, it has also brought problems, caused by subsidence. In March 1988, the bank near Lemonroyd lock collapsed into St Aidens opencast mine, which then flooded. A significant factor was the presence of excavations below the opencast workings where lower coal seams had previously been mined. The failure resulted in some 780000 cubic yards (596,352.8 m³) of material, including the banks of the river and the canal, slipping into the workings, which then flooded to a depth of 230 feet (70.1 m), creating a lake which covered 250 acres (101.2 ha). An act of Parliament was obtained to allow 1.9 miles (3.1 km) of new waterway to be constructed. The original locks at Kippax
Kippax
Kippax may refer to:* Kippax, West Yorkshire, village in England* Alan Kippax, Australian cricketer* Kippax Centre, Australian Capital Territory, a suburban centre in Canberra, Australia* Kippax Uniting Church and Community Centre....
and Lemonroyd were replaced by a single lock at Lemonroyd. Opencast mining finally resumed ten years later, after the site had been pumped out, but the coal reserves are now exhausted, and the site forms a nature reserve, with wet grasslands, reedbeds and open water covering 740 acres (299.5 ha).
Traffic
A 20th century modification of the compartment boat system was used to feed the coal-fired FerrybridgeFerrybridge
Ferrybridge is a village in West Yorkshire, England at a historically important crossing of the River Aire. It is linked to other communities by the A1, which follows the route of the Great North Road....
"C" power station. Starting in 1967, Cawoods Hargreaves used trains of three tubs or coal pans, which were rigidly connected, and pushed by a tug when loaded. The trains were filled with coal using canalside chutes at the colliery and pushed to the power station, where a hoist lifted each pan from the canal and upturned it to drop it contents onto a conveyor belt. Nine tugs and 35 pans were employed, with each pan holding around 170 tonnes. By the time the final load left Astley colliery in December 2002, 43 million tonnes had been delivered to Ferrybridge in this way. Experiments were made with trains of four pans, which allowed copper pipes to be carried on top of the coal for delivery to Goole, but this was short-lived. Coal carrying came to an abrupt halt during the late 20th century when the St Aidens opencast mine was exhausted and the coal from Kellingley colliery was found to have levels of sulphur content way above the acceptable limit. During 2008, three of the trains were used on the River Don, to transport 250,000 tonnes of limestone from a quarry at Cadeby to Hexthorpe.
British Waterways introduced a similar system in September 1974. Called BACAT, for Barges Aboard Catamaran, the system consisted of trains of barges, which were pushed by a tug, and which would be loaded between the twin hulls of a custom-built delivery ship. The ship would then transport them across the North Sea to continental waterways, without their contents having to be transshipped. The concept failed after 18 months, as the dock workers at Hull blacklisted the entire British Waterways fleet, because they believed that the system would threaten their jobs. Most of the commercial traffic using the navigation now consists of petroleum tankers and gravel barges.
Leisure boating
The Aire and Calder was built for commercial freight, and although the volume carried has dropped significantly, particularly since coal deliveries to Ferrybridge power station by canal stopped, the navigation still carried 300,000 tonnes of freight in 2007, down from 1.64 million tonnes in 2000. The Leeds to Castleford section and much of the Wakefield branch are now designated as leisure routes, but below Castleford, the industrial nature of the waterway is more obvious, and pleasure boats must give way to commercial vessels. 700 tonne vessels, designed to make maximum use of the locks, produce considerable wash, and are not as manoeuvrable as a narrow boat.Much of the ex-industrial (western) part of the Navigation now has the appearance of a tree-lined, gently-twisting river. The eastern part of the Navigation, sometimes known as the Knottingley and Goole Canal, is rather different: it has long straight stretches, but mainly through flat land that has always been agricultural. Between Wakefield and Leeds, via Castleford, the navigation is part of a circular cruising route or "ring", formed by the Leeds & Liverpool and the Huddersfield
Huddersfield Broad Canal
The Huddersfield Broad Canal is a wide-locked navigable canal in Yorkshire in northern England.The waterway is 3¾ miles long and has 9 wide locks...
or Rochdale
Rochdale Canal
The Rochdale Canal is a navigable "broad" canal in northern England, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. The "Rochdale" in its name refers to the town of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, through which the canal passes....
canals. The Outer Pennine Ring
Outer Pennine Ring
The Outer Pennine Ring is an English canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds and Castleford. Its route follows parts of eight canals, and includes the longest canal tunnel in England. The ring was completed in 2001, with the opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal...
utilises the Huddersfield Canal, while the North Pennine Ring
North Pennine Ring
The North Pennine Ring is a canal ring which crosses the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds and Castleford. It follows parts of five canals, and shares much of its route with the Outer Pennine Ring, which uses a different route for the southern crossing of the Pennines.-History:The concept of a...
uses the Rochdale Canal for the southern crossing of the Pennines. Beyond Castleford, boaters can travel on to Selby, York, Goole, Sheffield, and Keadby. With the possible restoration of the Barnsley Canal
Barnsley Canal
The Barnsley Canal is a canal that ran from Barnby Basin, through Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England to a junction with the Aire and Calder Navigation near Wakefield. It was long and included 15 locks. It was taken over by the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1854, and despite competition from the...
and the Dearne and Dove Canal
Dearne and Dove Canal
The Dearne and Dove Canal ran for almost ten miles through South Yorkshire, England from Swinton to Barnsley through nineteen locks, rising 127 yards. The canal also had two short branches, the Worsbrough branch and the Elsecar branch, both about two miles long with reservoirs at the head of each....
, the section between Wakefield and the New Junction Canal
New Junction Canal
The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation , although it was jointly funded by the Aire and Calder Navigation, and was opened in 1905. It links the River Don Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal with the Aire...
might become part of a new "Yorkshire Ring
Yorkshire Ring
The Yorkshire Ring is a canal ring in South and West Yorkshire, England. It was completed in 1905 with the construction of the New Junction Canal. It lasted for under thirty years before the closure of part of the Dearne and Dove Canal and subsequently the complete Barnsley Canal...
".