One of the 600 tonne barges used on the Navigation
Specifications
Length
34 miles (55 km)
Maximum boat length
200 ft 0 in (60.96 m) (originally 58 ft 0 in or 17.68 m)
Maximum boat beam
20 ft 0 in (6.10 m) (originally 14 ft 6 in or 4.42 m)
Locks
16
Status
Open
Navigation authority
Canal and River Trust
History
Original owner
Aire and Calder Navigation Company
Principal engineer
John Hadley
Date of act
1699
Date of first use
1704
Geography
Start point
Leeds (Aire) and Wakefield (Calder)
End point
Goole Docks
The Aire and Calder Navigation is the canalised section of the Rivers Aire and Calder in 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 Haddlesey 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 Puddings, from which coal was unloaded into ships by large hydraulic hoists. This system enabled the canal to carry at its peak more than 1.5 million tons of coal per year, and was not abandoned until 1986. To handle trains of compartments, many of the locks were lengthened to 450 feet (140 m).
Although much of the upper reaches are now designated as leisure routes, there is still significant commercial 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.
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(the AireandCalderNavigation) and a second act extended the navigable river upstream to Bingley. The second act formed the basis of the Leeds and Liverpool...
part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation (S&SYN), although it was jointly funded by the AireandCalderNavigation, and was opened in 1905....
used, and to develop coal-handling facilities at Keadby so that it would rival Goole on the AireandCalderNavigation. In addition, the Dearne and Dove...
Ouse. It opened in 1778, and provided the main outlet for the AireandCalderNavigation until 1826, when it was bypassed by a new cut from Ferrybridge...
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Ship Canal, the Aire & CalderNavigationand the other large waterways) remain viable, carrying many millions of tonnes per year and there are still hopes...
Manchester, and proceeding clockwise around the ring. Bridgewater Canal Leeds and Liverpool Canal AireandCalderNavigationCalderand Hebble Navigation Rochdale...
Yorkshire, including Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford, were trading increasingly. While the AireandCalderNavigation improved links to the east for Leeds...
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Manchester these are: Bridgewater Canal Leeds and Liverpool Canal AireandCalderNavigationCalderand Hebble Navigation Huddersfield Broad Canal Huddersfield...
centre the River Calder joins the River Aireand the AireandCalderNavigation. It is located north east of Wakefield, north of Pontefract and south east of...
the AireandCalderNavigation which provided the town with access to the North Sea. The first Registry of Deeds in the country opened in 1704 and in 1765...
opening of the New Junction Canal in 1905, jointly funded with the AireandCalderNavigation. During the 20th century, there were several plans to upgrade...
1890s and now known as the Dutch River Bridge – to the east of which a new village called 'Goole' formed. In the 1820s the AireandCalderNavigation company...
both Wakefield and Leeds, east to Goole and south-east to the East Coast Main Line; the River Aire meets the AireandCaldernavigation close to the east...
boats on the AireandCalderNavigation, introduced in 1863 and used until 1985, which were a very efficient means of transferring and transporting coal...
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section of the Rochdale canal that they share) Calderand Hebble Navigation, AireandCalderNavigation, Leeds and Liverpool Canal, Bridgewater Canal, Rochdale...
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