History of the Aire & Calder Navigation
For hundreds of years, Yorkshire entrepreneurs have sought to improve navigation on the natural rivers Aire and Calder. Straight channels were cut to bypass particularly narrow or tortuous stretches, including the entire Ferrybridge to Goole length. The most recent improvement was an entirely new section near Castleford, constructed in the 1980s after a spectacular breach.
The legacy of continual improvement means that the Aire & Calder Navigation is still a busy freight artery after 300 years, despite competition from road and rail and the constant demands to carry more in bigger boats. Sea-going and coastal vessels, carrying 700 tons or more, pass through locks almost 200 feet (61 metres) long and controlled by traffic signals. Over two million tons of freight is carried every year - a figure comparable with the European waterways.
At the start of its commercial life, cloth and agricultural produce were among the Aire & Calder's principal cargoes, but now only oil, sand and gravel are carried. A 300-year tradition of coal carrying came to an end in 2002. At its height, the coal traffic was carried in distinctive compartment boats - known as 'Tom Puddings' - which were lashed together in long trains and propelled by a powerful tug.
The Selby Canal is a branch of the Aire & Calder, built in response to rumours of a direct link between Leeds and Selby that would have affected trade. Opened in 1778, it was the main route from Leeds to the River Humber via the River Ouse, however as vessel size increased, its shallow draught proved inadequate. By 1826 much of its traffic had transferred to the new Knottingley to Goole section, which was in turn connected with the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation by the New Junction Canal of 1905 - the last waterway built in Britain until 2001.
