Aire and Calder Navigation

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The Aire and Calder Navigation is a river and canal system of the River Aire and the River Calder in the county of West Yorkshire, England.

One of the 600 tonne barges used on the Navigation.

[edit] History and Route

In 1699 an Act was passed to improve the navigability of the River Aire (from the River Ouse at Airmyn via Castleford to Leeds) and River Calder (from Castleford to Wakefield). This involved the creation of weirs and very short "cuts" (with locks) around the weirs. During the 18th century the navigation was improved by longer cuts to bypass difficult or circuitous stretches of river, but the major improvements were made in the last quarter of the century by civil engineers John Smeaton and William Jessop. In particular, the 6-mile Selby Canal connected the Aire at Haddlesey directly with the Ouse at Selby - bypassing the lower reaches of the Aire completely, and forestalling a plan by the Leeds and Liverpool canal company to construct their own extension from Leeds to Selby. In 1826 a new long, wide, canal from Knottingley bypassed a long stretch of the Ouse by joining it downstream of Selby, creating the inland port of Goole.

The twentieth century saw two major phases of improvement. In 1905, the New Junction Canal connected the Aire and Calder to the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigations near Stainforth. In the 1980s the navigation underwent a huge scheme of modernisation in which, all the locks were moderised and enlarged so the could facilitate the new 600 tonne barge standard. This makes the locks a massive 200' by 20' (70m by 6.1m).

The Aire and Calder still fulfills its original purpose (although by different routes) by linking Leeds and Wakefield with York, and the Humber (and hence the Trent). More recent canals now also make the A&C a vital link in the English (and increasingly, Welsh) connected inland waterway network. The current set of links is formidable. The A&C joins the Leeds and Liverpool canal at Leeds. The Calder and Hebble Navigation (from Wakefield) allows boats the reach the Huddersfield Canals and the Rochdale Canal. The upstream Ouse (reached via the Selby Canal) allows boats to reach York, Boroughbridge and Ripon. The downstream Ouse (reached via Selby or Goole) connects to the River Derwent and the Humber (and hence Hull, Immingham, and the North Sea). The S&SYN (reached via the New Junction Canal) forms a link with (in one direction) Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield, and (in the other) the tidal River Trent at Keadby.

One of the large locks.

[edit] Traffic

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the company's chief engineer William H. Bartholomew devised the successful compartment boat system for the transport of coal from the Yorkshire collieries for transhipping to coastal colliers at Goole. The system consisted of "Tom Puddings" loaded at the canal side, formed into trains of up to 19, pulled by a tug, and emptied into the collier by a hoist.

A 20th century modification of this system was used to feed the coal-fired power stations(s) at Ferrybridge. A train of three tubs ("Coal Pans") was loaded via canalside chutes at the coliery and pushed by the famous "Hargreave" tugs to Ferrybridge, where a hoist lifted each pan from the canal and upturned it to drop it contents onto a conveyor belt. Until recently the amount of coal (the waterway's main traffic) amounted to about 2 million tonnes per year, but 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 accepptable limit. At Ferrybridge, the massive hoist, and the channel down which coal pans were pushed under it can still be seen - as can rows of idle pans. Near Castleford, idle tugs can still be seen in Hargreaves boatyard. Newer commercial traffics are starting to use the navigation, such as petroleum tankers and gravel barges, though the majority of users are now leisure boaters.

For holidaymakers, the "mixed" aspect of the waterway can be more interesting than the "100% chocolate-box" appearance of may other canals. It is true that "industrial heritage" is sometimes very apparent, and perhaps appreciated better for being in short bursts (stretches where most boaters would not wish to moor for an al-fresco lunch!) but a programme of tree planting on river-banks and waste tips is already bearing fruit (no pun intended). 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 (Knottingley and Goole Canal) is rather different: it has long straight stretches, but mainly through flat land that has aways been agricultural. The majority of pleasure journeys are made between Wakefield and Leeds, via Castleford (this stretch is part of the "Ring" formed by the Leeds & Liverpool and the Huddersfield or Rochdale canals) with only the more adventurous boaters travelling on to Selby, York, Goole, Sheffield, and Keadby. However, with the restoration of the Barnsley and the Dearne & Dove canals (still perhaps ten years away) the section between Wakefield and the New Junction Canal will become part of a new "Southern Yorkshire Ring", which will no doubt bring more traffic to these less-used reaches.