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. The Murray River in Australia. ... The Canal du Midi in Toulouse, France. ... The River Aire is a river in West Yorkshire, England. ... For other River Calders, see River Calder (disambiguation). ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in England, corresponding roughly to the core of the West Riding of the traditional county of Yorkshire. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004...

One of the 600 tonne barges used on the Navigation.

--195.92.40.49 11:00, 28 June 2006 (UTC)== History and Route == Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 707 KB)Took Photo my self, Mike Reay Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 707 KB)Took Photo my self, Mike Reay Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

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. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... The term civil engineer refers to an individual who practices civil engineering. ... Portrait of John Smeaton, with the Eddystone Lighthouse in the background. ... William Jessop (23 January 1745 - 18 November 1814) was a noted English civil engineer, particularly famed for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. ... Goole is a town and port located on the River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in northeast England. ...

The twntieth 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 New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. ...

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. The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. ...

One of the large locks.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 692 KB)Taken by me on the Aire and Calder Navigation, Mike Reay Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2048x1536, 692 KB)Taken by me on the Aire and Calder Navigation, Mike Reay Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

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 connected "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 uptured it 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 exausted 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 the 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.

The majority of users are now leisure boaters, who find the "mixed" aspect of the waterway 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 (and where most boaters would not wish to moor for an al-fresco lunch) but a programme of river-bank and waste-tip tree-planting is rapidly making the navigation very attractive indeed. 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). More adventurous boaters travel to Selby, York, Goole, Sheffield, and Keadby. When the Barnsley and the Dearne & Dove canals are restored, the section between Wakefield and the New Junction Canal will become part of a new "Ring", which will no doubt bring more traffic to these less-used reaches. The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. ...

External links

• Pennine Waterways