tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43194718029407561692024-02-19T15:11:10.870+00:00Waterways of the HumberTidal rivers are where you can see the huge forces of the solar system working on the planet - a humbling, yet wonderous, experience for us humans.
This blog is about canals and rivers, people and places, boats and ships - the present and the past - of the waterways linked to the River Humber.Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-63058712003602594752014-12-23T14:55:00.001+00:002014-12-23T14:55:25.229+00:00The Busy River Idle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's now a little-known waterway but in centuries past the River Idle played a crucial role in the industrial development of the north midlands. But in the 18th century the construction of the Chesterfield Canal changed the character of the Idle, now its important task is drainage and flood prevention.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLZbb1zk2yWQrnoTPPckw27vNqjY4BXZxRRtvfg1B6VhRZihIrbIt3TsZ9DZkIwC77fU8hSjBP9HpJxYomSn-7zAv6vMEAOdgpGH0bVJkcPd4Ti9Kmgz8I9DP3oyZ24ulvbp_M64A_RaU/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLZbb1zk2yWQrnoTPPckw27vNqjY4BXZxRRtvfg1B6VhRZihIrbIt3TsZ9DZkIwC77fU8hSjBP9HpJxYomSn-7zAv6vMEAOdgpGH0bVJkcPd4Ti9Kmgz8I9DP3oyZ24ulvbp_M64A_RaU/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Idle's outfall is into the tidal Trent, at West Stockwith in Nottinghamshire, just a few yards downstream of the Chesterfield Canal. </span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5d3-7TUqsK4Q_v5AId6MEEE3DwNxjtwClClpDOd5y2Uh1f2KmAAR3Y0NDK-aClB8KzKkR4sWYLkvkqZyQYfTeAIZwIxCk8-7EN5uXTe2Ft8a8Ay34LIEbSJzLMH-dvJyy2kncaVUFgdw/s1600/01+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5d3-7TUqsK4Q_v5AId6MEEE3DwNxjtwClClpDOd5y2Uh1f2KmAAR3Y0NDK-aClB8KzKkR4sWYLkvkqZyQYfTeAIZwIxCk8-7EN5uXTe2Ft8a8Ay34LIEbSJzLMH-dvJyy2kncaVUFgdw/s1600/01+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But a boat entering the Idle from the Trent is a rare event, seen only on special occasions organised by local boaters. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGk6uWFCkRR6_469VQOcvwGx0CI8kW0THpeWPg5crnnpZrqpmAikQBJffk7K1Y2wZ8ffDpauldjiDPNFvdrpeQvd_Gtx7duiKrodPT2AfqMS9bKdT_uOGf3WcArlzygihm704PRr3D5xw/s1600/01a+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGk6uWFCkRR6_469VQOcvwGx0CI8kW0THpeWPg5crnnpZrqpmAikQBJffk7K1Y2wZ8ffDpauldjiDPNFvdrpeQvd_Gtx7duiKrodPT2AfqMS9bKdT_uOGf3WcArlzygihm704PRr3D5xw/s1600/01a+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The reason is a barrier across the Idle, just upstream of its outfall, which keeps the high-tide waters of the Trent out of the smaller river. By special arrangement, and at a suitable state of the tide, the barrier can be lifted to allow boats to pass beneath.</span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglFc-tYAAa65cCR1i5ve1wP_gtZeX29ntAFfQdW7-1r7OBfZlbfD5xRfYB9fna5puLpi0LzT7ilHDhMFsmHxkvrHI9IsK6n2c85btPcvhIGWxEPgcgHOaCAwNsg1xkgn1bM2dQbszzU44/s1600/02+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglFc-tYAAa65cCR1i5ve1wP_gtZeX29ntAFfQdW7-1r7OBfZlbfD5xRfYB9fna5puLpi0LzT7ilHDhMFsmHxkvrHI9IsK6n2c85btPcvhIGWxEPgcgHOaCAwNsg1xkgn1bM2dQbszzU44/s1600/02+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2E66y8gFNfiv2hbA4zCbaLATAD_mtmINGY42hmjsykRa-v5SO0yhw-zvWDskUWvTXcDf8iWbEaWVW1YSrgEFPUaHXKXvb6VhHDZSslc_3VPRA-xs9Gq6O2VSdPf-7yuhWQCq0vJpYpgg/s1600/03+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2E66y8gFNfiv2hbA4zCbaLATAD_mtmINGY42hmjsykRa-v5SO0yhw-zvWDskUWvTXcDf8iWbEaWVW1YSrgEFPUaHXKXvb6VhHDZSslc_3VPRA-xs9Gq6O2VSdPf-7yuhWQCq0vJpYpgg/s1600/03+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then, only a little further upstream, there is a pumping-station where, when necessary, drainage water from the Idle's extensive catchment area can be raised up if the Trent's waters remain high.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's an ongoing task to balance the ever-changing water-levels of the Idle and the Trent. However, the pumping-station does have a gate, on the left of the picture, which can be raised to allow boats to pass. However, this can only be done if pumping is not taking place and the levels in the Idle are stable. Navigation past both the barrier and the pumping-station is very expensive, the Environment Agency levying a high fee to provide the staff to make it possible. So groups of local boaters visit the Idle, on rare occasions, to share the costs - events usually organised by the Retford & Worksop Boat Club, based on the Chesterfield Canal.<br /> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijU6MgjDljvvobU_mxM7ZzM2_jwXGgnn9jAaiSChroFxgO58kMJfctrTq51bJmByRpF5tg_Zm67byErZu3hs_ndFWJ8IqZBbkT6xO1u6R5y_xIOp-JSCAycbKoZEfJu6aiPWy66sIjMfM/s1600/05+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijU6MgjDljvvobU_mxM7ZzM2_jwXGgnn9jAaiSChroFxgO58kMJfctrTq51bJmByRpF5tg_Zm67byErZu3hs_ndFWJ8IqZBbkT6xO1u6R5y_xIOp-JSCAycbKoZEfJu6aiPWy66sIjMfM/s1600/05+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="201" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The chimneys of Misterton Soss mark the site of an earlier method of water control in this low-lying area.<br /> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />There is no evidence now of the crucial role the Idle played for centuries, until the 1780s. Bawtry was the furthest upstream where reasonable depths of water could carry sizable craft, so it became the port for the north midlands, a link to the national and international shipping on the River Trent. The towns and mines of the north midlands had no other outlet for water-borne transport, easily the most effective method of moving heavy cargoes before good roads and railways - by the middle of the 18th century an average-sized boat trading on the Idle was 48ft long, with a 15ft beam, carrying 12 to 24 tons. They had a mast and a square sail, and easily navigated upon the Trent.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5yQEmUZuoCDh0OVydSdVUNAWAyCWO_BalvT-WEAo5AoeNd-8ShIDu5ZTM8Uk1AUsZ4I5uIl1QnjCbwfG7spbVcqNgJ1Zul1eEx6gPmQN-Q2dwrkEqnUoGIQluwDJIMla7Ybe1v8_ooQ/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5yQEmUZuoCDh0OVydSdVUNAWAyCWO_BalvT-WEAo5AoeNd-8ShIDu5ZTM8Uk1AUsZ4I5uIl1QnjCbwfG7spbVcqNgJ1Zul1eEx6gPmQN-Q2dwrkEqnUoGIQluwDJIMla7Ybe1v8_ooQ/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So important was Bawtry that the initial proposals for building the Chesterfield Canal assumed its best route would be to the busy port on the Idle. In the 1770s the change in the canal's route to incorporate Retford, and therefore bypass Bawtry, proved to be the historic port's death knell. The Chesterfield Canal was a far more efficient transport route to the Trent, and it served Bawtry's catchment area. The tidal and winding River Idle could not compete.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDr-f1IIxOoCiHEJEqsTroSyD5tsqrQKGxE_8k6eDqyxQnV9GFDC8WPV-MlKL4zzSrbjQKnxAB7yG2mi8skmYYwmGtHawf8mr5D8m7TLaTow9LYgONxnoc37i6Ncy1nvRpCA5HGhdFrw/s1600/07+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDr-f1IIxOoCiHEJEqsTroSyD5tsqrQKGxE_8k6eDqyxQnV9GFDC8WPV-MlKL4zzSrbjQKnxAB7yG2mi8skmYYwmGtHawf8mr5D8m7TLaTow9LYgONxnoc37i6Ncy1nvRpCA5HGhdFrw/s1600/07+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> However, local trade did continue. In 1826 the landlord of the Haxey Gate pub (pictured left) was running a market-boat, an example of many instances of licensees running such craft from somewhat inaccessible locations.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BoJ3xNXQrfII3ROfw-mLjBvirKHMwwQ_Gs5qfKDWAvCL5ZaZnMX4wsP3Y3a7GzfrM_laxQvgYvqb6f4XmjuuLEylFysP-H_97y5DGc6M_2FeyD2obFTpS7_FcBbL8K1guRlIV1q2aBA/s1600/06+Haxey+quays+Idle+low+res.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-BoJ3xNXQrfII3ROfw-mLjBvirKHMwwQ_Gs5qfKDWAvCL5ZaZnMX4wsP3Y3a7GzfrM_laxQvgYvqb6f4XmjuuLEylFysP-H_97y5DGc6M_2FeyD2obFTpS7_FcBbL8K1guRlIV1q2aBA/s1600/06+Haxey+quays+Idle+low+res.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Currently Haxey Gate, just downstream of the pub, has again a trading profile with the only commercial moorings on the River Idle. (The owner has an agreement with the Environment Agency re the passage of his moorers' boats through the Stockwith barriers, but I'm not aware of the details). </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Subsequent drainage realignments of the river have straightened its course to Bawtry. Apart from a sign on the road, which crosses the Idle here, there is no indication of the busy port described in 1758 - commodious wharves, coal yards, warehouses, boat-builders, timber stacks, piles of iron and lead, flax and hemp. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Instead a long viaduct, carrying the east-coast mainline railway, divides the town from the river. It's a scene which varies depending on the month of visit because this is one of the Idle's main flood-plains, part of the management system for these waters. In the summer its obvious where the river is, within a vast area of flat lands. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> But in other seasons all can be covered - as here in November 2012.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the 2nd of May 1999 the boats on the organised visit to the Idle managed to pass under Bawtry's road bridge, stopping at the last point where turning could be guaranteed, at the confluence with the River Ryton. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Although two determined crews went further along a now-winding Idle towards Mattersey. The cruise of 2009 couldn't get under the road bridge at Bawtry.<br /><br /> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The largest town on the River Idle is now Retford, and in the past boats could struggle that far upstream, but it was never easy and many schemes for improving navigation came to nothing. So, when plans for the Chesterfield Canal were heard, in the late 1760s, the town quickly advocated a route to bypass the River Idle. Other than local trade, business on the river died out very quickly and Bawtry relied on its location on the Great North Road and the trade it bought.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5yQEmUZuoCDh0OVydSdVUNAWAyCWO_BalvT-WEAo5AoeNd-8ShIDu5ZTM8Uk1AUsZ4I5uIl1QnjCbwfG7spbVcqNgJ1Zul1eEx6gPmQN-Q2dwrkEqnUoGIQluwDJIMla7Ybe1v8_ooQ/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK5yQEmUZuoCDh0OVydSdVUNAWAyCWO_BalvT-WEAo5AoeNd-8ShIDu5ZTM8Uk1AUsZ4I5uIl1QnjCbwfG7spbVcqNgJ1Zul1eEx6gPmQN-Q2dwrkEqnUoGIQluwDJIMla7Ybe1v8_ooQ/s1600/Idle+2+cropped.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When the Chesterfield Canal was conceived it was never planned that its narrowboats would venture out onto the wide waters of the tidal Trent, but they very quickly did so. My theory is that they were manned by boatmen who had once traded on the Idle and had a good knowledge of the major river. Masts were rigged on the narrowboats and square sails hoisted, just as they had on their own boats, and out they went onto the Trent - upstream to Gainsborough for the coastal trade, and Torksey for access to the Fossdyke - downstream and sometimes up the River Idle.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-50238590804972858762012-08-26T11:16:00.000+01:002012-08-26T11:41:06.710+01:00Trent Falls<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Where the Trent and Yorkshire’s Ouse meet, to form the Humber, is one of the country’s major waterway junctions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water drained from one fifth of England’s total area flows through here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why is it called Trent Falls?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As far as I know it isn’t called Ouse Falls, although the more pragmatic do call it Trent End, but not Ouse End (and not Humber Start).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">So, sticking with Trent Falls, there’s only one place ashore from where the whole geography can be seen and that’s the small village of Alkborough.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDNXYcCIaXxVQKHWjQbVnnC_3gMNXya8yOqFDsk8806FJMA1DpO-PLLCHo3MvdVdophH1cvbH_xFpaqCxCdKLFZtyK92dL5PQvZ9e4zZ6klRA-cAWhunASWvmFRFhRjpzj4Vi6rOj34Q/s1600/Trent+Falls+Alkborough+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDNXYcCIaXxVQKHWjQbVnnC_3gMNXya8yOqFDsk8806FJMA1DpO-PLLCHo3MvdVdophH1cvbH_xFpaqCxCdKLFZtyK92dL5PQvZ9e4zZ6klRA-cAWhunASWvmFRFhRjpzj4Vi6rOj34Q/s320/Trent+Falls+Alkborough+cropped.jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">During the last miles of the Trent’s approach to Trent Falls the river flows along the bottom of a steep ridge on its eastern bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>High for this part of the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alkborough is on top of that ridge, near where it falls way to allow the Humber to flow to the east, so it has a viewpoint over Trent Falls and the flat country extending for many miles beyond.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdqCWdNPVXGYdf4iiOE1ySuNVlPWLv7BZFrGPAk5QTVBdOngd9L2reip0JLlSvblbJpN8TRrdIuPe9Xidp_5pzSM4Soo-QqvcEkZhdGC4MhSIeACC48mTfoKMKkJ0tjcKsz3eqxauxbo/s1600/02+Alkborough+20120512+(5).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdqCWdNPVXGYdf4iiOE1ySuNVlPWLv7BZFrGPAk5QTVBdOngd9L2reip0JLlSvblbJpN8TRrdIuPe9Xidp_5pzSM4Soo-QqvcEkZhdGC4MhSIeACC48mTfoKMKkJ0tjcKsz3eqxauxbo/s400/02+Alkborough+20120512+(5).jpg" width="400" yda="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The pale-coloured land on the left, just below the line of the horizon, is between the Trent and the Ouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The white post where the rivers meet is Trent Falls, and the white boat has cruised up the Humber and is turning into the Trent.</span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">(Click on any image for a larger view).</span></span></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">From the skipper’s viewpoint it would look like this, a picture kindly supplied by Rachael Jennings, taken from her motor-cruiser. <a href="http://www.naughty-cal.blogspot.co.uk/">www.naughty-cal.blogspot.co.uk</a></span></o:p></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZxkKQP-mBbnYFkH41yDwG1wZ-nocpc9YqqIZD1obFrg3H55GSM4CcfCSFZYhyphenhyphenF9JXzfvhkxoehyphenhyphenwD-mbJqU4DnuomXLvWrz83hl-KzDHwzS6wnr9xeNd-pOwNNg2QN4cp4TvAkacXRA/s1600/05+Trent+Falls.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiZxkKQP-mBbnYFkH41yDwG1wZ-nocpc9YqqIZD1obFrg3H55GSM4CcfCSFZYhyphenhyphenF9JXzfvhkxoehyphenhyphenwD-mbJqU4DnuomXLvWrz83hl-KzDHwzS6wnr9xeNd-pOwNNg2QN4cp4TvAkacXRA/s320/05+Trent+Falls.JPG" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxeQNxbb64ZP_A2MW48_mO3E5zOs0og_gJJFTzYKe4iC0Po7cPlUjw6BF4iYLhixE_AQmikN5tj2fYCFzZrTf6MmXzNSX6N0CVURogIcTwnM_sIs7xj9Pch8JpDjD4x3jpQNH2a9DVF0/s1600/03+Alkborough+20120512+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQxeQNxbb64ZP_A2MW48_mO3E5zOs0og_gJJFTzYKe4iC0Po7cPlUjw6BF4iYLhixE_AQmikN5tj2fYCFzZrTf6MmXzNSX6N0CVURogIcTwnM_sIs7xj9Pch8JpDjD4x3jpQNH2a9DVF0/s320/03+Alkborough+20120512+(2).jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In the foreground is Alkborough Flats, an agricultural area for thousands of years, but now used for another purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For 500 years there was also a small port on the Flats, until the 1700s, because the rivers limit access to this area and it’s still quiet and undisturbed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was more activity in 1643 when the Royalists in the Civil War brought an artillery position onto the Flats to defend access to the Trent, but the guns were eventually overcome by the Parliamentarians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Late in World War 2 the Flats were used as a bombing-range by the RAF, USAF and the Polish airforce.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-axy5cRu_pTNlnrd1NmHr4aaX2Dp1ZOANgsBMS1MkYMUHGz0M8m6_10mX3nqSkfVbTw0YUu5ovBWuAECuC1o4p6hUIgcqy51iV-ngIb5yRb1a1EeLN0l66o-HAu2xPfThYLOqyL_FYI/s1600/06+HB+Alkborough+Info+20120428+(14).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM-axy5cRu_pTNlnrd1NmHr4aaX2Dp1ZOANgsBMS1MkYMUHGz0M8m6_10mX3nqSkfVbTw0YUu5ovBWuAECuC1o4p6hUIgcqy51iV-ngIb5yRb1a1EeLN0l66o-HAu2xPfThYLOqyL_FYI/s400/06+HB+Alkborough+Info+20120428+(14).jpg" width="341" yda="true" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Agriculture eventually ceased on the Flats. In September 2006 a breach was made in the floodwall, which allows the tide to flow in and out of a third of the 1,000 acre site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During extreme high tides water also flows over a lowered section of the wall into the whole of the Flats, to alleviate flooding in Hull, Gainsborough and York.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During construction of the breach unexploded bombs were found, from the 1940s bombing range.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Today Alkborough Flats is also a wetland haven for birds and other wildlife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s accessible from Alkborough (from Whitton Road, turn down Prospect Lane).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a car-park, hides, information panels and seats.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjtXoS6c2p6oywz9g3Wzzakd7loRjkncLMXsiO3ZYApnZkHhmkmr0rj_qzhyphenhyphenG9AFlapmp60oqNBVXN2eyoRyMaP3uIXllthqIWGymj3t3mXx_gV8cqg1O0jQPlWv8sM2jyY0pIXid0Aw/s1600/08+Alkborough+20120512+(8).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSjtXoS6c2p6oywz9g3Wzzakd7loRjkncLMXsiO3ZYApnZkHhmkmr0rj_qzhyphenhyphenG9AFlapmp60oqNBVXN2eyoRyMaP3uIXllthqIWGymj3t3mXx_gV8cqg1O0jQPlWv8sM2jyY0pIXid0Aw/s320/08+Alkborough+20120512+(8).jpg" width="320" yda="true" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"><o:p><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Places with a spectacular geography usually have an ancient history and Alkborough’s viewpoint is also the site of a turf maze, known as Julian’s Bower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its age and origin are a mystery but it’s thought to be medieval.</span></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Victorians prudently copied the ancient design of the maze into the floor of the porch of the village church.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">When in Alkborough we always visit The Paddocks Tea Rooms, which is on a working farm, for the best of service and food, and copious leaflets about exploring the area. <a href="http://www.collegefarm.org/">www.collegefarm.org</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also have a caravan site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Finally, it’s possible to drive further round the end of the ridge for views across the Humber.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">As a dedicated blog-writer I, of course, spent many days waiting for a white boat to arrive to complete this picture!</span></div>
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Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-39613878186300602312012-08-20T13:17:00.000+01:002012-08-20T13:17:32.725+01:00Waterways by Train<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">We enjoy taking a train from Rotherham to Hull, and have done so a number of times during different seasons. It’s the easiest way to see a selection of Humber waterways, and to gather a broad impression of the geography of the region<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a geography created by the waterways.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Although Hull is not really covered by this blog it’s a city with a lovely riverfront on the Humber, and boats and shipping to see (dependent on the tide of course), so we are always happy to visit it again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This post describes a railway journey starting at Rotherham’s new snazzy waterside station, officially opened in July this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The railway shares the valley created by the River Don.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sitting on the right-hand side there are always waterway glimpses, although less so in the summer when the thickly-wooded surroundings block sightings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">But before we leave Rotherham behind there’s a clear view of the large canal basin, usually with flocks of swans, where very large commercial craft turn at their head of navigation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Don is a typical river navigation, so between Rotherham and Doncaster boats are sometimes on the river and other times on canal lengths which bypass weirs and shallows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Next in view are massive steelworks through the centre of which flows the Don.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mention this as proof that steel is still made in Rotherham despite the many ill-informed impressions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Having got that off my chest it’s back to the waterways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Near Swinton station derelict locks on the Dearne & Dove Canal are now the boatyard of the Waddington Boat Company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And on leaving Mexborough station the line crosses a navigationally by-passed section of the River Don.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Don looks different when in flood with fresh water from the Yorkshire hills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Before reaching Doncaster the line passes through a tunnel and a deep cutting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the limestone ridge through which the Don has made one of the few passes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>further south the Chesterfield Canal had to tunnel through it to reach the Trent.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">We changed trains at Doncaster - again sitting on the right side has the best views.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The line crosses the navigation just after leaving the station, but it’s masked by buildings, fences, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A little later the Don is crossed and a small weir can clearly be seen, which looks insignificant, but it’s what stops the tide from travelling further upstream on this river.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">From now on the geography is totally different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For many centuries the tidal River Don, freed from the limitations of a valley, and a steep cutting through a ridge, flowed where it wanted through flat low-lying land.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That all changed in the 17th century when it was confined by Dutch engineers into an artificial course, that’s why the lower reaches of the Don are now known as the Dutch River<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>its straightened lines obvious on the map as it approaches the River Ouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">By doing so a vast acreage of land between the Dutch River and the Trent were drained and developed into a rich agricultural resource, which is pleasant to see out of the train window.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sheep grazing on the flood-banks of the waterways, small-holdings with a mixture of animals, remote small roads, horses in paddocks, and fields of crops of many varieties.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">If facing astern it’s possible to catch a glimpse of Long Sandall Lock on the Don Navigation, but it is only a glimpse and I’ve never managed to get a picture of it from a train window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">After Stainforth station the line passes under the M18 and, a little further on, crosses over the Stainforth & Keadby Canal at Thorne.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s always moored boats to see from the train in this busy little waterways town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Soon afterwards is Thorne North station, the approach to it adorned by a lovely park with lakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After passing through more drained arable land the train crosses the Dutch River<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it’s banks indicating the state of the tide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"></span> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Immediately afterwards it’s a bridge over the Aire & Calder Navigation, as it nears Goole docks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">On the approach to Goole station the superstructures of ships in the docks can sometimes be seen beyond the buildings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a sign that major waterways are near.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNY2aExMVONxQz1QCtyIK_2A6JPBmJkiKjYaHm0dauPRBNLwcwFXvZdGGwhnwMOnTvVGgc7cwIi6jP54KldqnreJjhyphenhyphenXbf70j-ZBZRKyBnew3cPT9NvmnkJoTPk6mSqEaqEeqcH4zrIM/s1600/06+Train+Ouse+20120712+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" mda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNY2aExMVONxQz1QCtyIK_2A6JPBmJkiKjYaHm0dauPRBNLwcwFXvZdGGwhnwMOnTvVGgc7cwIi6jP54KldqnreJjhyphenhyphenXbf70j-ZBZRKyBnew3cPT9NvmnkJoTPk6mSqEaqEeqcH4zrIM/s320/06+Train+Ouse+20120712+%25282%2529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The first is the Ouse, the king of Yorkshire’s rivers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The train clatters across a long bridge over the Ouse which swings open to allow ships up to Howdendyke wharf<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so it’s unlikely you’ll see a ship from the train!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p>And this is the type of ship the bridge swings for, unloading at Howdendyke wharf.</o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">More flat lands, this time drained via the Market Weighton Canal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I keep missing photographs from the train, so here’s one I took earlier.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Brough is a Roman town, created to guard the northern end of their Humber crossing-point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From here the rail line gets closer and closer to the Humber, eventually after Ferriby there’s spectacular clear views as the train runs along the north bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Facing backwards shows the wide upstream channel of the Humber, but facing forwards gives a lovely view of the Humber Bridge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Eventually the Humber Bridge is so near it requires the train-track to run under its northern approach road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After Hessle station the Humber can still be seen but it’s beyond a busy parallel road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Hull’s Paragon railway station is a delight, with flowers and a small area as it was when trains were the major form of public transport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">It’s an enjoyable walk from the station’s main exit, across the main road, along Paragon Street, at its end turn right into Princes Dock Street which is considerably more pleasant than it sounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Princes Quays shopping centre is set in a water landscape with fountains, there are outside cafes, and on the other side of the street are historic buildings still in use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At the end of Princes Dock Street there is a crossing to the marina with, at its far end, a lock into the Humber.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Downstream, left facing the Humber, is the start of a very pleasant riverside area, including a pier from where the river-crossing ferries used to sail, a footbridge over the River Hull, The Deep (aquarium) and a waterside footpath along the Humber.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">It’s a day out of which we never tire, and Doncaster-Hull is only an hour on the train.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-75625466532009321712012-06-28T14:20:00.000+01:002012-06-28T14:20:05.333+01:00Rotherham's Bridge Chapel<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">What are the oldest buildings on our inland waterways?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bridge chapels have a good claim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only four remain on their bridges, and the only one entire and unaltered is at Rotherham<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>over the River Don, a few yards downstream of where it’s joined by the Rother.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Such chapels were once a common sight for travellers, thankful for a substantial bridge, rather than the ferries from which many lives were lost, or the fords that were impassable when river levels were high.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">But a stone bridge was expensive to create and maintain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Medieval non-military construction engineering was almost solely in the hands of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The men who built the great cathedrals were probably responsible, chapel-bridges usually having spans the same shape as arching and vaults in religious buildings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">It was chantry-chapels that were built on the bridges, specially designated as sites where priests were paid to chant masses for local people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The funds received were used to maintain the bridge, a system that survived until 1547 when masses, and chantry-chapels, were abolished in the religious traumas of that century.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">That was when most of the bridge chapels were lost<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rotherham’s survived, but lost its fittings and windows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After that it had centuries of various uses, an almshouse, a jail with a cell in the crypt, a house, then a tobacconist’s shop in the 1880s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The town’s inhabitants signed a petition for the restoration of the chapel and in 1924 it was re-consecrated by the Bishop of Sheffield.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Now attention switched to the bridge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenge was to create a bridge for motorised traffic without harming the chapel or the medieval arches on which it stood<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>built in c1483 its roadway was only 15 feet wide, increased to 24ft 6ins in 1769.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The answer was the present Chantry Bridge opened in 1930, about 20ft upstream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The old bridge was incorporated into it as a footway only, reduced to its four arches and original width.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">And the River Don?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s no longer the navigable route, having been bypassed by a lock-cut, and the growth of the town meant its channel was progressively edged westwards.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">As a result the chapel’s bridge-arches are now usually on dry land<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but not always.</span></div>
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When water levels are very high the Don still flows under the bridge of the Chapel of Our Lady.</div>
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The four arches of the original bridge are shown here, with the current road bridge extending from it over the Don's main channel.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"></span> <span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Services in the Chapel of Our Lady - Holy Communion, 11.00, Tuesdays.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The other three chapels still on their bridges are at -</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">St.Ives, Cambridgeshire - over the Great Ouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Wakefield - over the River Calder </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire - near Bradford Lock on the Kennet & Avon Canal</span></div>
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</span>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-74488959985457751192012-06-26T14:56:00.000+01:002012-06-26T14:56:48.841+01:00So Few Visitors?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I write this blog to spread awareness of a lesser known region of the waterways network.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It seems my efforts are needed - at Castleford flood-lock the car-park provided by British Waterways appears to be miniscule.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Only one visitor at a time?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And only one fisherman?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">It's to be hoped that when the Canal & River Trust take over running our waterways adequate facilities will be installed! Or an awareness of apostrophes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">On the other hand - when driving to the flood-lock the road-lanes for Castleford and Pontefract were painted Cas' and Pont' - just two little blobs of white paint, but a pleasure to behold.</span><br />
<br />Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-83078674370366578342012-06-23T12:47:00.000+01:002012-06-23T12:47:12.905+01:00Castleford - Four Days Later!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the previous blog the first pictures show the waterways at Castleford - the River Aire flowing over the weir, and the area of the flood-lock at the end of the lock-cut.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That was four days ago. After the torrential rain in the Calder valley last night, a month's worth in 24 hours, the same scenes looked like this. The weir has almost disappeared. These water levels are only 6 inches less than the highest recorded in modern times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Compare the two sets of photographs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What fish, eel, lamprey and otter ladder?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The conduits near the mill have been over-topped.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">But the geese have found a sheltered spot out of the very fast flowing waters.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">At the confluence of the rivers Calder and Aire - in the foreground the entrance to Castleford cut to bypass the weir. The red traffic light indicates navigation is prohibited and, not surprisingly, the gates of the flood-lock are closed. Four days ago they remained open.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The levels are so high that water is running through the top slats of the closed flood-gates.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As a result the water-levels in the lock-cut have risen substantially.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The green boat on the left is heeling over because a mooring rope, to the centre of the roof, has been tied too tight. We, of course, slackened it off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As I type - the whole of the Rochdale Canal has been closed to navigation, its route being along the inundated Calder valley.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">And all of this water, and more, will end up at Airmyn - then into the Ouse, then into the Humber. Truely Waterways of the Humber.</span><br />
<br />Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-49773558327810367372012-06-22T14:06:00.000+01:002012-06-22T14:06:20.831+01:00Two Rivers - One Aim - the Calder & Aire<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Fine weather was forecast for two days this week so we got out and about the waterways<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>this time to the rivers Calder & Aire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve named them in that order to distinguish them from the successful man-made system now known as the Aire & Calder Navigation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">It started with the wool trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout medieval times the valleys of West Yorkshire had made a good living from wool.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But by the early 1600s they were beginning to make serious money exporting woollen cloth to Europe, sending it on slow-plodding packhorses to Rawcliffe and Selby to be loaded onto sea-going ships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Slow, and expensive<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leeds to Selby in the winter could take two weeks, at £5 per ton, later water-borne cargoes would take only three days at a cost of only 10 shillings a ton.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">What we see today as the Aire & Calder Navigation is the result of almost 230 years of effort by the merchants of Leeds and Wakefield<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>culminating in 1826 with their towns having a direct waterways link to a new port at Goole, with docks for sea-going ships.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was an instant success<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3,200 ships used the docks in 1866, of those 463 were foreign-flagged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Goole is still the furthest inland operational port.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">We started our first day out at Castleford, parking near the River Aire where it crashes over a weir, one of the earlier navigational works to increase the depth of the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s a lovely new s-shaped footbridge across, opened in 2008, with innovative seating to enjoy the cool air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the industrial pollution has been cleared from the river the bridge has opened up the area for the town. An added feature to the weir is an up-pass for fish, plus a similar but covered section for eels and lampreys, and steps on both sides for otters.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The footbridge and weir, viewed from the south bank.</span></div>
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<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fish, eel, lamprey, otter up-pass.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">At the south end of the weir is the former Allinson’s flour-mill which was the world’s largest carrying out traditional stone-grinding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, after 100 years it closed in February 2011 but it’s still a striking building.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Constructing a weir is one half of a scheme, the other is to provide another route for boats to avoid it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We walked upstream on the Aire’s north bank, a grassy path taking us round a bend to the confluence of the Calder and the Aire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bush in the centre of the photograph is at the confluence of the two rivers - the Aire flowing down from the top right, the Calder from the upper left.</span> <span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The waters of both rivers flow down to the middle left, heading for the weir, but boats pass through the entrance to Castleford flood-lock, in the foreground. Its gates remain open when water-levels are normal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The two rivers drain vast areas of the South Pennines so if there’s been copious rain the levels soon rise and the flood-lock’s gates are closed, as are those upstream on both rivers, and navigation ceases until normality returns.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we were there Castleford flood-lock had recently re-opened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">It’s a pretty scene, and there’s usually boats about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We happily mooch about such places, talking to people, gathering news about the waterways, and looking at boats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sheltered waters behind the flood-gates. At the other end of this </span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">short straight section of canal a lock drops vessels down to the Aire at its lower level, it having descended the weir.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the way rivers were improved for navigation, often piecemeal, before canals completely bypassed the upper reaches<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but, unusually, it’s the lower reaches of the Aire that are very bendy so it was those stretches that were instead bypassed by the Aire & Calder Navigation Company.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Where does the Aire end up?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the second fine day we went to explore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Airmyn village is quiet, its clock-tower the most memorable image, and sound.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The river is hidden behind well-mowed flood-banks, as is the way of things all along the lower reaches of the Aire and the Ouse<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but walking along the bank tops is pleasant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">We parked near the clock-tower and went up the steps to the top of the bank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was mid-morning and the tide was ebbing, resulting in a fast-flowing river lined with mud as the levels fell with the tide.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We strolled along towards the confluence of the Aire and the Ouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">When the weather’s sunny it’s often comfortable walking near these large rivers where their waters cool the air.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The silence was broken by the songs of chaffinches, skylarks and yellow-hammers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Across the adjacent wheat-field, through gaps in the distant trees, could be seen two River Ouse bridges, the high modern one of the M62 soaring high, and the seldom-swinging one at Boothferry.</span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The one aspect that’s frustrating are areas where bushes, and in this case trees, have grown between the flood-bank and the river, thus making it difficult to see the waterway<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a visit on a fine winter’s day when the foliage has gone is often the answer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here we were on a beautiful early summer day, a day when frustration is not allowed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took what photographs I could before we strolled back to Airmyn.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">As much as we could see of where the Aire flows into the Ouse. Great big fingerpost for directions though.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The village used to be a busy port, but now boats on the river here are an extreme rarity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 1778 the Aire & Calder Navigation Company had decided that the extremely bendy lower reaches of the Aire could be tolerated no longer<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so they built the Selby Canal to cut across from the Aire to the Ouse, the “king” of all Yorkshire rivers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, in one swoop, Airmyn’s days as a major port were finished, and there’s no reason for boats to visit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">But the A&C hadn’t finished<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Selby was limited by only having a small basin above the lock, and no room to excavate more so in 1820 they started on their major works, to build a very wide canal all the way from Knottingley to Goole, a small village further downstream from Selby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That way they could also avoid further bends on the Ouse, have direct access to deeper water on the river, and have room to create docks for ships and canal traffic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not a company to do things half-heartedly!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By 1826 they had completed the task, with the only lower part of the Aire now used by boats the short stretch between Knottingley and Haddesley, to give access to the Selby Canal.</span><br />
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Of course, by then, the wool trade of Leeds & Wakefield had abated - coal was the next source of riches for the Aire & Calder Navigation.</div>
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</span>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-79400500102583645402012-06-12T08:41:00.000+01:002012-06-13T17:18:28.346+01:00Humber Canals Across the Ages<br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">One of the reasons this country has an intricate network of canals is that it also has many navigable rivers that are not geographically far apart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Those rivers were the “motorways” of the past so it was natural that canals were built to provide a water link to them<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>then the second phase was to link the canals to each other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s for those reasons that the Humber area, rich in major navigable rivers, is also the region with the widest historical range of canals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This is an overview of them, and where each fits into the Humber network. <strong>The map at the head of the blog shows their locations.</strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: large;">Fossdyke</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Fossdyke is generally labelled “Roman”, which is a catch-all phrase because we don’t know exactly when in that era it was built.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between the years 71 and 74 the Roman 9th Legion advanced from Lincoln to a new base at York, so that may a pointer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s now accepted that waterways were crucial transport routes for them, carrying building materials, food, and other bulk supplies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, the Fossdyke linking Lincoln to the Trent would have greatly helped in the expansion of the Roman occupation.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Torksey - above the lock which is the Fossdyke's junction with the River Trent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Torksey - the lock-gates and the short arm to the River Trent, which has safe moorings off the main stream of the tidal river.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The Fossdyke is the area’s earliest canal that is still navigable, but it was probably preceded by the Turnbridgedike and the Bycarrsdike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a well-researched theory that the three Roman waterways linked local rivers to make a route between the Roman cities Lincoln and York<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but to do that justice it will be covered in a separate post. <em> [I know the're not on the blog's map, but their locations and routes need some research before I can include them.]</em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the A1041 there's a bridge which crosses a small ditch, all that remains of the route of the Roman waterway now known as the Turnbridgedike</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Chesterfield Canal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">It was a considerable number of years after the Romans, about 1,700 of them, before the Chesterfield Canal was completed in 1777 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but the motivation was similar, to provide a water-transport link to a major river, again the Trent, just downstream from the Fossdyke.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">However, the technology available was very different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the energetic, resourceful, organised, powerhouse that was England in the second half of the 18th century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before now single canals had been built as and when required by a landowner or an industry<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>now the burgeoning industrial revolution was a shouting, wriggling infant that screamed its need for a national transport system for bulky and heavy goods<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>principally coal (“black gold”).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">One engineer personified that pioneering era of canal construction in the 1760s and 1770s, James Brindley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The canals created by him formed the strategic strands of the network which would eventually spread across the country<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and one of Brindley’s waterways was the Chesterfield Canal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Although early the Chesterfield is the longest, most intricate and geographically challenging of the Humber’s canals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crucially it crosses a watershed, accomplished via a very long tunnel and complex flights of locks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In addition to those engineering marvels it has aqueducts, wide and narrow locks, a loading/unloading basin on the banks of the Trent, and a tidal lock into the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This 46-mile canal was pushing the limits of what could be achieved in the 18th century.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Currently this lovely canal is navigable in two sections at either end of its route, with a nine mile gap still to be restored<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but the closing of that gap is actively in hand, with the banner of the cause flown by the enterprising, energetic and successful Chesterfield Canal Trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <a href="http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/">http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/</a> </span>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile the canal’s towpath is walkable for the whole length, and signed as the Cuckoo Way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boats on the River Trent approaching the entrance lock to the Chesterfield Canal at West Stockwith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">West Stockwith basin, where cargoes used to be trans-shipped between river and canal boats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of the historic Thorpe flight of locks.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Selby Canal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">On the other hand the Selby Canal, completed in 1778, was an echo of an earlier age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The River Aire had been used for centuries to transport the output of Leeds and Wakefield, even though the river had all the frustrating limitations which had motivated Brindley’s canal promoters to bypass such waterways by going across country<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>too much water, too little water, bendy courses, no engineered towpath, low bridges, etc, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that the Yorkshire towns were rich and booming with the wool trade they looked for an alternative<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but only as far as another river, the Ouse, which was larger than the Aire, straighter and deeper, although still leaving much to be desired as a transport route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because of the Brindley achievements there were many different proposals to bypass using the Aire,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but a cut to avoid the river’s tortuous lower miles was all that could be decided upon<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was what people were used to.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So a weir was built across the Aire to keep the tide out, and above it the straight and short Selby Canal, only 5¼ miles long, was built to cut across from the Aire to the Ouse at its name-town.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At Selby, the canal's only permanent lock - down into the tidal River Ouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boats leaving the lock - going upstream on the River Ouse, towards York.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">West Haddesley - at the western end of the Selby Canal. Normally the water is at the same level as the River Aire and the gates are left open, but if the river's levels are high the gates are closed, as seen here. The gates form a flood-lock, but boats usually wait in the canal for the Aire's water- levels to normalise.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Market Weighton Canal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">After the previous three decades of boom the 1780s were years of depressed trade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>trading problems, therefore little was done about building canals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the few that were completed at this time was the Market Weighton, although it was a project of the 1770s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a typical example of canals as planned prior to the Brindley networked era<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it was to solve local problems, namely land drainage in the plain of York, better transport, and agricultural improvement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a piecemeal effort, done at various times, delayed by financial problems, compromised, and re-sized before it was finished in 1782, all 9Fundamentally this was because some pesky colonists in America had, late in the previous decade, eventually declared themselves an independent country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reverberations of this act caused widespread ½ miles of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it never reached its name-town, ending two miles short.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The canal is said to be navigable for over four miles to its junction with the Foulness River, the waters of which are diverted into its course for discharge into the Humber - but few boats visit.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Market Weighton Canal, just over a mile from its entrance lock on the Humber's north bank.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Eventually the shock of the loss of the American colonies faded and the 1790s were the first decade of what can accurately be called the Canal Age.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were so many authorising Acts of Parliament sought (required to raise public funding) that Westminster had to make special arrangements to deal with the volume of them all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Many had been planned during the earlier Brindley era but had been lost during the 1780s recession.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now the confidence typical of the second half of the 18th century had returned and all over the country those schemes were dusted off and progressed with vigour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They often bore the names of the towns at each end of the route<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>typical was the Stainforth & Keadby Canal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>providing an obvious link from the navigable River Don to the Trent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its 12¾ miles were completed in 1802 and it meant boats sailing between the Ouse and the Trent did not have to go via the sometimes dangerous waters at Trent Falls, where the two rivers merge into the Humber.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMT5zJup2o6XDJilUvtE1BX0RETaR-abZDyoMDaQowu0is2vzhsDvoVggJ097hqTX3BwQYHk_MVKIFBt881JjsSqpJBKKI9M4s613Mx6MBBTUqr022unjHI3vfyKqrIn6-yug7w5jMKE/s1600/Stainforth+&+Keadby+Canal+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkMT5zJup2o6XDJilUvtE1BX0RETaR-abZDyoMDaQowu0is2vzhsDvoVggJ097hqTX3BwQYHk_MVKIFBt881JjsSqpJBKKI9M4s613Mx6MBBTUqr022unjHI3vfyKqrIn6-yug7w5jMKE/s320/Stainforth+&+Keadby+Canal+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thorne is the major centre on the canal for shops and boating supplies, boat repairs and public transport.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">From 1858 to 1987 Thorne was also a busy boat-building centre, not just canal boats, but tugs, fishing boats, tankers and many other types.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial; font-size: large;">Pocklington Canal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Entirely different in nature were the motivations to build the Pocklington Canal which, like the Market Weighton, sought to provide water-borne transport from its isolated name-town to a navigable river, this time the then-tidal Derwent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Completed in 1818 the cargoes along its 9½ rural miles were always sparse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s now navigable for its first five miles, up to Melbourne<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>with the Pocklington Canal Amenity Society campaigning for complete restoration.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOdtTdSc7PgawVLqNp4IwhNT6dWAc1aXOkQPnXyYJ5gTlID_qy4BBkqKcH-I3vbQkgrNQnhJkscXbLSZ3qeUDNg9-WNnIr5pGSFvlp1t3NTrZnRNaFk8vF7FLtB1fWbdWYjuOPkV41HI/s1600/Pocklington+Canal+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOdtTdSc7PgawVLqNp4IwhNT6dWAc1aXOkQPnXyYJ5gTlID_qy4BBkqKcH-I3vbQkgrNQnhJkscXbLSZ3qeUDNg9-WNnIr5pGSFvlp1t3NTrZnRNaFk8vF7FLtB1fWbdWYjuOPkV41HI/s320/Pocklington+Canal+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Pocklington is famous for its distinctive circular lock-operating gear. The used to be found elsewhere in the region but have been replaced.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpxPKCLuNZ7vBf5Ow0DoLCfxLONqAXZ60u9xtFyuwdURRmc_8_dptR_0YIPO00gqAP_1MoUInQ3JyXt2GS89ffRZA54A4HGs7dMalSvVA3dY-l9XoEo9XpoBIfnXKYyQFxoqO4tMXwXs/s1600/Pocklington+Canal+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOpxPKCLuNZ7vBf5Ow0DoLCfxLONqAXZ60u9xtFyuwdURRmc_8_dptR_0YIPO00gqAP_1MoUInQ3JyXt2GS89ffRZA54A4HGs7dMalSvVA3dY-l9XoEo9XpoBIfnXKYyQFxoqO4tMXwXs/s320/Pocklington+Canal+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although walkable for its entire length, boats can only get to the basin at Melbourne. However, the end of the canal near Pocklington is a well-maintained and pleasant spot.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Sheffield & Tinsley Canal</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">The canals of the Humber Waterways include widely various types<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the nature of the rural and agricultural Pocklington having nothing in common with the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through indecision, prevarication, trade rivalries, and objections from various bodies Sheffield became the last major city to have the benefit of a canal<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>having to wait until 1819.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course Sheffield had the River Don but that was only navigable to Tinsley, both because of its diminishing size and the city’s use of the river to power vast mills and factories.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, the output of Sheffield’s heavy industry was lugged by road the four miles down to Tinsley to be loaded onto boats<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a ludicrous situation, but at least progress was downhill, whereas incoming raw materials had to be pulled up the valley.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqyd8WPI06j1wFB1xY39TZHNKXcaZ97bt7iGwxWpb2FqyPfHQ0-S-QNIpaVCvq3F-iVuZWOyHgwJyskP1O5tKV2a7F6E04qK8QEP9MhUGl8aU9TfQRK8FwP5SQmI-o7wKcuHmTYqdr3J0/s1600/Sheffield+&+Tinsley+Canal+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqyd8WPI06j1wFB1xY39TZHNKXcaZ97bt7iGwxWpb2FqyPfHQ0-S-QNIpaVCvq3F-iVuZWOyHgwJyskP1O5tKV2a7F6E04qK8QEP9MhUGl8aU9TfQRK8FwP5SQmI-o7wKcuHmTYqdr3J0/s320/Sheffield+&+Tinsley+Canal+(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdicfK4t2c_F56LTUgXDmmlT9wiPFrHZUtma5UaNTVSqxo2679msNuvCCGagP2DFAfTZZ7OJbLxv1PqHsKjlI2-s06B0tXloVRaA1ZIpP71YnkeRkJU8pw_ZSQrCWOzjhm5ZgLe3fbEik/s1600/Sheffield+&+Tinsley+Canal+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdicfK4t2c_F56LTUgXDmmlT9wiPFrHZUtma5UaNTVSqxo2679msNuvCCGagP2DFAfTZZ7OJbLxv1PqHsKjlI2-s06B0tXloVRaA1ZIpP71YnkeRkJU8pw_ZSQrCWOzjhm5ZgLe3fbEik/s320/Sheffield+&+Tinsley+Canal+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The basin at Sheffield, now known as Victoria Quays. The warehouse in the background straddles the waterway, and there is another, even older, behind it.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Aire & Calder</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Changing character again, the Aire & Calder in the Humber region is one end of a major waterway, the history of which goes back to 1621.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As early as that the prosperous towns of Leeds (on the Aire) and Wakefield (on the Calder) were scheming to improve those rivers for navigation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The name goes back to 1699 when commissioners were appointed to continuously improve water-borne access to/from both towns, and over the centuries they did, always keeping up with the engineering abilities being developed for waterways and the capabilities of boats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned above the Selby Canal was part of their achievements.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Eventually the final part was constructed, which is the section in the Humber area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a wide 17-mile canal, completely bypassing the lower reaches of the River Aire, and accessing the River Ouse at Goole.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Completed in 1826 it included at Goole a basin, and barge and ship docks.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">The Aire & Calder was just in time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During the 1830s the newly-developed railways started to make an impact and as a consequence investment in canal building was limited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the Aire & Calder had been designed very efficiently<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it still carries commercial cargo-carrying vessels, and Goole docks are still busily in use, the furthest inland in the United Kingdom.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of Goole docks, at the eastern end of the Aire & Calder. Locks link the docks to the tidal River Ouse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">New Junction Canal</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">There’s only one more to cover.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Completing the historical range of the Humber’s canals, and one of the very few finished in the 20th century, is the New Junction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Absolutely straight, and 5½ miles long, it is a tribute to the success of the Aire & Calder, built to give River Don boats access to that booming waterway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Aire & Calder also benefited by a new route to more<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>collieries to assuage its appetite for transporting coal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The New Junction opened in 1905 and was further modernised in 1983, along with the River Don, as part of a scheme to give large vessels the ability to navigate to Rotherham, a little downstream of where the River Rother joins the River Don.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidHyLn3XLFgJLWBCVdkJWrC7tWHZwtR0ffSjsr0UA0jIzrnEect_Nl-1pUjYKC3gv1WPRrUbE4CXT859DUX0McvdBWBjuo0oqyusM4YiXIyAGVZmoOpgGjt5-OOum58jX3UDduXZfv43s/s1600/New+Junction+Canal+-+Don+Aqueduct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidHyLn3XLFgJLWBCVdkJWrC7tWHZwtR0ffSjsr0UA0jIzrnEect_Nl-1pUjYKC3gv1WPRrUbE4CXT859DUX0McvdBWBjuo0oqyusM4YiXIyAGVZmoOpgGjt5-OOum58jX3UDduXZfv43s/s320/New+Junction+Canal+-+Don+Aqueduct.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New Junction Canal crossing a tidal section of the River Don. There is a guillotine gate at each end of the aqueduct, which are lowered when the river levels rise and threaten to overflow into the canal.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT77c0XgYkDSGlQDPmrEj25i7eR6Pa3FVTpFNjoakJqj58EXWtlyyCTohw2mtSRjeoy8CDQ3y77tfKsNWKSj0GfbgQeYOm0ks442_uN9PWdhGueHVGRq6N1uuwVt67HxxDeD9t82OAGI8/s1600/New+Junction+Canal+-+Top+Lane+Br.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT77c0XgYkDSGlQDPmrEj25i7eR6Pa3FVTpFNjoakJqj58EXWtlyyCTohw2mtSRjeoy8CDQ3y77tfKsNWKSj0GfbgQeYOm0ks442_uN9PWdhGueHVGRq6N1uuwVt67HxxDeD9t82OAGI8/s320/New+Junction+Canal+-+Top+Lane+Br.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Commercial vessels use the canal, and bridges such as this are power operated to assist their passage.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuoFBcgvqzXtjznZ6k1JWvq9x0qAfHpiGZZjziCUqsOBIBx8zAUxT88LNpLWDDaCRfwQr_V90uwPq8gSbhNoxlDsC7g8fbt4RQVI9bPdiCcG7VkpQg86zHaVERuY2iz-Nw21Ff8-N18tI/s1600/SSYN+-++Aldwarke+Lock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuoFBcgvqzXtjznZ6k1JWvq9x0qAfHpiGZZjziCUqsOBIBx8zAUxT88LNpLWDDaCRfwQr_V90uwPq8gSbhNoxlDsC7g8fbt4RQVI9bPdiCcG7VkpQg86zHaVERuY2iz-Nw21Ff8-N18tI/s320/SSYN+-++Aldwarke+Lock.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this is the type of vessel now using the SSYN - <em>Humber Princess</em> taking oil from Hull to Rotherham.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It all fits together - natural and man-made waterways all link into a network. An isolated waterway is as rare as an isolated road.</span></div>
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</div>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-52868527433154952972012-06-04T10:33:00.001+01:002012-06-13T17:23:06.095+01:00Congratulations Wheldale<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNaXROIxd0q5cVaBiKe7_QrFl-C4IGdqSU4VNwoq9odj9k96n-LyU_RLvey6-lHMrp9fYvsIc23rRCn3aq1tNTFtZeZWDFnrIeKdFHXUTpxtvCFe24CmtOnoQ_yGHR5p5ywGPggG6D84/s1600/Wheldale+20120405+(1)+lr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fba="true" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZNaXROIxd0q5cVaBiKe7_QrFl-C4IGdqSU4VNwoq9odj9k96n-LyU_RLvey6-lHMrp9fYvsIc23rRCn3aq1tNTFtZeZWDFnrIeKdFHXUTpxtvCFe24CmtOnoQ_yGHR5p5ywGPggG6D84/s400/Wheldale+20120405+(1)+lr.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><em><span style="color: #990000;">Wheldale</span></em><span style="color: #990000;"> on her home mooring at the</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Yorkshire Waterways Museum in Goole.</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">Waiting to be spruced up for the Queen.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Well done <i>Wheldale</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This little, but tough, tug left her home at the Yorkshire Waterways Museum, at Goole on the Aire & Calder Canal, on Sunday 27th May<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to make her way to London to take part in the Jubilee Pageant on the Thames.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">She was specifically designed for canal work only.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her job was to bring long chains of tubs, full of coal, from the collieries of South and West Yorkshire to ships in Goole docks<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>as part of the “Tom Puddings” system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing ever said she would leave her home canal, go down the River Ouse, into the Humber, out into the North Sea, a long way down the east coast, and up the Thames.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But she did.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">O</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">n TV we saw <i>Wheldale</i> in London’s West India Dock, which was the holding berth for boats coming from seaward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then during the pageant she was one of the very few with a BBC person on board, and it was delightful to see two of her crew being interviewed live to the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They managed to explain about Wheldale’s past, and the tom-puddings. (One of too few informed comments about a boat during the whole of the BBC's coverage).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"><em>Wheldale</em> waited in London for a weather-window to come back home to the Waterways of the Humber. Which she safely did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";">Congratulations to all involved.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif";"><a href="http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/">http://www.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk/</a></span></div>
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</div>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-12581942994724967252012-06-02T12:58:00.001+01:002012-06-02T12:58:40.281+01:00Barmby Barrage<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcnBOFzGV05BZ_Jhg-M8O27aHdtYEdPXZK3XSim4D14xIjgG-NivG5SIWJh7PVldbrAwP3Zhp1HVz5QiIsYLzqGtgP1ViXJ5OI1DbCb5TkoRMkyAZ_WuIzAxCfARCqGc8yn1SanGyOs0/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(10).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLcnBOFzGV05BZ_Jhg-M8O27aHdtYEdPXZK3XSim4D14xIjgG-NivG5SIWJh7PVldbrAwP3Zhp1HVz5QiIsYLzqGtgP1ViXJ5OI1DbCb5TkoRMkyAZ_WuIzAxCfARCqGc8yn1SanGyOs0/s400/Barmby+Barrage+(10).jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These boats are on the tidal section of the River Ouse, waiting to enter the River Derwent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>At the confluence of other rivers this would be a straight-forward matter of waiting for the water levels to rise to a navigable height, but here the Derwent is not free to flow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead it is controlled by Barmby Barrage.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Kz3klvsqJ8uSaHogdyFpO2eWpDu0F6rQYKOcTGsc0bBUc9ZgUDeERX2h-4k6KUauW6Bx0n5OCfEd6qsQG-HJsaglu_vfJakID-XDrFrbMuT-SiLFgLyMn3J1ULQ-bdgjVkK3WnVOFf0/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(7).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7Kz3klvsqJ8uSaHogdyFpO2eWpDu0F6rQYKOcTGsc0bBUc9ZgUDeERX2h-4k6KUauW6Bx0n5OCfEd6qsQG-HJsaglu_vfJakID-XDrFrbMuT-SiLFgLyMn3J1ULQ-bdgjVkK3WnVOFf0/s400/Barmby+Barrage+(7).jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seen from the Ouse the entrance to the River Derwent looks like this<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Built in 1975 Barmby Barrage stops the saline and sediment-rich tidal waters of the Ouse from contaminating the fresh and clear waters of the Derwent, which, further upstream, is extracted for drinking water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another function is flood-control by excluding high levels on the Ouse which sometimes struggles to deal with high volumes of fresh water coming down from the hills north</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> of York, and abnormally high tides. All the water-level calculations are done automatically, with the barrage-keeper on hand to deal with any problems and operation of the lock for boaters.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">On the left are the closed gates to the lock-chamber, the opening of which was awaited by the boats in the photograph above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the right are the sluices which control the levels between the Ouse and the Derwent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between the lock and the sluices is the jetty which juts out 37ft.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_63F3m4x6j9V7WFsr6SIzVPNBKtRsxQIZwXSotTCJ6LFEKicKjfuLRLiHuu-sDqhS2Z2jsfVlrKuQMrYB_bVLcTDOnQBbEqIrvjuxJ_FuLBCoSIT4UZnG-pnd5HPYMzyzatSSdH4epnI/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_63F3m4x6j9V7WFsr6SIzVPNBKtRsxQIZwXSotTCJ6LFEKicKjfuLRLiHuu-sDqhS2Z2jsfVlrKuQMrYB_bVLcTDOnQBbEqIrvjuxJ_FuLBCoSIT4UZnG-pnd5HPYMzyzatSSdH4epnI/s320/Barmby+Barrage+(4).jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The jetty, seen from the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Derwent side </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(No, it doesn't have a </span>power station on it). </span></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDxIq2_8S8R-a5ToC9RqEn-DF9h0JYCkOCOyO3GtUsHyHmtJRHgRrcUENEfTZVFpPa6Lg-_GNQawToCup7nDqrCP6nQgjHVoAwbH9x_gCKueCukCtUfvDCj2bFf8UNK5R3Z3z-nhvynw/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(6).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDxIq2_8S8R-a5ToC9RqEn-DF9h0JYCkOCOyO3GtUsHyHmtJRHgRrcUENEfTZVFpPa6Lg-_GNQawToCup7nDqrCP6nQgjHVoAwbH9x_gCKueCukCtUfvDCj2bFf8UNK5R3Z3z-nhvynw/s320/Barmby+Barrage+(6).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A recent addition is a “lamprey ladder”, seen here during installation, sloping down into the Ouse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These eel-like, but not eels, fish need to come in from the sea to breed in fresh water<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a supply of which from the Derwent flows down the “ladder” and the lampreys in the Ouse sense it and swim up the ladder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was installed in 2011, so what the lampreys had been doing since the barrage was installed in 1975 I don’t know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, they now have an Environment Agency ladder to help them on their way.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFCUgjhyP8_icqWzbM-WUy1L0QmHdwLIi8vMuJtvi-XUAx-ZxwHRiG7jfhjS31w-kLd9-kSvafx6S2yv1aXy3nuUi29tPHILHmLr65vUspX9e4T-ckVEJWuhsmTW9PVOU7sCN5HLfuRg/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJFCUgjhyP8_icqWzbM-WUy1L0QmHdwLIi8vMuJtvi-XUAx-ZxwHRiG7jfhjS31w-kLd9-kSvafx6S2yv1aXy3nuUi29tPHILHmLr65vUspX9e4T-ckVEJWuhsmTW9PVOU7sCN5HLfuRg/s320/Barmby+Barrage+(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Having passed through the barrage's lock boats are on a very different waterway. Navigation on the Derwent has a complex history - the Navigation Act was repealed in 1935, and waterways enthusiasts fought long and hard in the 1970s and 1980s to have the legal right to boat upon the river. The situation remains unclear - there is no navigation authority, and boats can only cruise as far as Stamford Bridge.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv699e14piXHTxSHyguaZSvL1XkUSpNLQ1MFaMUyFbXzkEcffYZa-TL6gtFkQgrEX1QT0ANNOUbNPLYa8-wmfsTwKt08l7rhXGw8iA9wr7TOg5mpiNAFKY3RR-Aqr3k6XYTUHUDcYCjGk/s1600/Barmby+Barrage+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv699e14piXHTxSHyguaZSvL1XkUSpNLQ1MFaMUyFbXzkEcffYZa-TL6gtFkQgrEX1QT0ANNOUbNPLYa8-wmfsTwKt08l7rhXGw8iA9wr7TOg5mpiNAFKY3RR-Aqr3k6XYTUHUDcYCjGk/s320/Barmby+Barrage+(1).jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;">The Dewent, looking upstream</span><br />
<span style="color: #990000; font-size: small;">from the barrage's mooring pontoon</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">On the Derwent the surroundings of the barrage are a well-maintained amenity site with leisure facilities which include course fishing, a bird-watching hide, a wildlife reserve and a picnic area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s also a mooring pontoon for boats waiting for passage through the barrage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a quiet area with free parking, at the end of the road from Barmby on the Marsh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We like it.</span><br />
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</span>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-18051771759912559012012-05-18T12:46:00.001+01:002012-06-22T14:16:07.148+01:00Chesterfield Canal - Village Signs<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It used to be that awareness of the Chesterfield Canal was limited along its route. Even in its name-town a puzzled shrug was often the response to a query about the waterway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That's no longer the case, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Chesterfield Canal Trust all along the route. Spin-offs take all shapes and forms, one of which is inclusion of the canal in new village signs.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyuE5Z30WusSg8o7zI_toFGdCtBmv_T965fLguRGV4aW0Xx_OclTTw5ZwT9pUnveTfPp7HVVeShxqH9klNffEmceg_jZWGlSzodMhshwFM4pHlWL3yan6H_twhdMGrGtIWUc1ArAAygU/s1600/Clayworth+20111231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyuE5Z30WusSg8o7zI_toFGdCtBmv_T965fLguRGV4aW0Xx_OclTTw5ZwT9pUnveTfPp7HVVeShxqH9klNffEmceg_jZWGlSzodMhshwFM4pHlWL3yan6H_twhdMGrGtIWUc1ArAAygU/s320/Clayworth+20111231.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The canal is included, which is what matters, but with my London roots I can only see a red tube train coming out of a tunnel at the end of a platform! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">That ages me - I think it's some years since red tube trains were about.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaprLxdEb0IalPNirK7o_Yc0dHJnY-2IqXPZ3-DbkRnRpGJ0Sjlkaus5R-w9umCWJRhh2kWNlqG96vTcoCiBIaJzSaoOrxKeNlcSKgH0OnQyv2j1hq__C_X8ZCFwNKqfIhZ4OtBaq_VDw/s1600/Misterton+20100818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" kba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaprLxdEb0IalPNirK7o_Yc0dHJnY-2IqXPZ3-DbkRnRpGJ0Sjlkaus5R-w9umCWJRhh2kWNlqG96vTcoCiBIaJzSaoOrxKeNlcSKgH0OnQyv2j1hq__C_X8ZCFwNKqfIhZ4OtBaq_VDw/s320/Misterton+20100818.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The canal actually skirts the edge of the village, but this lovely sign makes it a major feature.</span>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-34432789530393289952012-05-17T16:42:00.000+01:002012-05-18T12:21:13.665+01:00The Ferry at Booth<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s quiet on the river now, but for centuries the ferry at Booth was so important it eventually gave its name to the nearby area of Boothferry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The barrier of the Humber, and the four major rivers at its upstream end, was crossed most easily at Booth, although “easily” is a relative term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The rivers are all tidal and the incoming flow is very fast, with the ebb slower but sometimes swollen by fresh water draining away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Nevertheless, the ferry’s location is strategic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Ouse is narrower than the Humber, it’s the first place where the Ouse is crossable, and on the south bank it gives access to a wide geographical area (including the Great North Road at Doncaster), without crossing another major river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hull’s nearest crossing point was Booth, so south-based traffic to and from that major port ensured a steady stream of customers, including stage-coaches during their brief thirty-year ascendancy from 1810.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The horses had to be un-hitched and the coach manhandled up and down the often slippery ramps, then fresh horses harnessed up for the next miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The stage-coach names evoked speed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Eclipse, the True Briton, the John Bull<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but the only thing speeding along at Booth was the River Ouse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In May 1893 an eye-witness account tells of one ferry carrying ten calves in the body of the boat with ten men standing on the bulwarks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next load was fifteen sheep and lambs, five farmers, a dog and himself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the loading was going well until the whole flock broke loose and some of the fat farmers were nearly capsized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dog flew out, the drovers swore, and the onlookers smiled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually the creatures were got onboard, only for two lambs to spring overboard before being recovered.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c1910 on south bank - how long did it take to load</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This sort of scene had gone on for more centuries than were recorded, as had the ferrymen using the boat to catch migratory salmon coming up the Ouse each year<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>getting to the fish before the pursuing porpoises and bottle-nosed whales.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The ferryboats were rowed across, usually with one large oar at the stern, and another near the bows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1914 one was fitted with an engine, but spares were difficult to obtain during the war so the boatmen went back to rowing over.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, so who would trust their</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the First World War the ramps were improved with smoother surfaces as more cars were using the crossing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By the 1920s the public pressure for a bridge to be built at Booth could not be resisted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Shipping was still using the river to access wharfs further upstream at Selby so the bridge would have to be moveable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first girders were lifted into place on 1 June 1927, eventually the new Boothferry Bridge would be 698ft long, with a swing-span giving a 125ft wide shipping channel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the closing of an era the last ferry crossed the Ouse on 17 July 1929, the day before the official opening of the bridge.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Boothferry Bridge open c1900 - a rare sight today</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">(that tug looks a bit off channel)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Boothferry Bridge seldom swings now, shipping going no further upstream than the nearby Howdendyke wharves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barges obtain various contracts to deliver further upstream but I’m not aware that they require the bridge to open.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The crossing is still busy with local traffic and that on the A614, although most volume is on the M62, the bridge of which swoops high above the Ouse a little further downstream.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There’s little to see now where Booth’s ferry was so busy, so noisy, for so long.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But on the north bank some of the buildings remain, although vastly improved and extended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Standing on the north bank of the ferry crossing, looking downstream to Boothferry Bridge, beyond that to the M62 viaduct, and down to the swiftly flowing waters of the River Ouse<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a reminder that crossing large rivers is never easy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Looking across to the north bank. The buildings are the three on the right in the picture of c1910.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The buildings on the north bank, although much altered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the north bank, looking across to the south bank ferry landing. Here, only a solitary piece of timber near the water's edge shows the location of the old ferry ramp.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Boothferry Bridge.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial", "sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Boothferry Bridge from the area of the ferry landing.</span></div>
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<br />Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-46547809407099422682012-05-13T13:08:00.000+01:002012-05-13T13:08:54.338+01:00Potatoes Ahoy<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yesterday <em>mv Elm</em> made her way up the Trent on a rising tide, accompanied by tug <em>Shovette</em>. Her last port of call was in Spain, and now she was on her way to Grove Wharf on the Lincolnshire bank.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Some of her cargo to be discharged was sacks of potatoes, which is like the old phrase of "taking coals to Newcastle". We often drive across the flat agricultural heartlands of Lincolnshire, and it's obvious that county knows a thing or two about growing 'tates.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not so big?</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, perhaps so</span></td></tr>
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Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-25512095053160149342012-05-13T09:14:00.000+01:002012-05-13T13:10:33.681+01:00A Gateway and a Barrier<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Being only 40 miles long the Humber has the advantage over larger estuaries of being comprehensible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At its mouth, in most weather, it’s possible to see the other bank and get an idea of scale, whereas an observer of the estuaries of the South American rivers Plate and Amazon would find the opposite bank hidden by the curvature of the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Humber’s observable size means the large tidal range can swiftly be appreciated as the incoming tides rush towards the Trent and the Ouse, if the conditions are suitable the narrowing channel results in tidal bores known locally as aegres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the tides have ebbed the fresh water coming down from the rivers is that drained from almost a fifth of England’s area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Trent is the main river of the Midlands, whereas the Ouse drains most of Yorkshire.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coincidentally the waters of both rivers contain that used by large brewing industries<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>at Burton-on-Trent, and a major Ouse tributary the Wharf at Tadcaster.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEkTbhyphenhyphenqb02p7FCRid89ttUJ3thZOlVzNW7lt5Q7NVyFk2wc8vZCAtzX6kaK-dalo4Xk_-EQ9ysCwhfpcy17v09Bs8UWeW8CIg_E6M9JD3TkcBWPJYxfOPTXApxUCOEYOf5ysgPUWzM8/s1600/Humber+Bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEkTbhyphenhyphenqb02p7FCRid89ttUJ3thZOlVzNW7lt5Q7NVyFk2wc8vZCAtzX6kaK-dalo4Xk_-EQ9ysCwhfpcy17v09Bs8UWeW8CIg_E6M9JD3TkcBWPJYxfOPTXApxUCOEYOf5ysgPUWzM8/s320/Humber+Bridge.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Humber Bridge from the south bank</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the centuries the size of the Humber and its navigable tributaries have always been a gateway for ships, deep into England’s heart<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but to those on land they have always been a formidable barrier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their waters were too wide to bridge at a navigable height with the technology of previous centuries, and it would take us until 1981 to create a Humber crossing by creating the world’s longest suspension bridge (at that time).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Small ferryboats crossed at various points where the geography allowed, mostly on the tributaries and the upper Humber where the channel width is less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The term “ferry” meant a small row-boat, or at the most a flat raft capable of taking farm animals, and horses and wagons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a time-consuming operation, and the ferries couldn’t operate at all when fast tides were rushing in, or when high levels of fresh water were rushing out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nor was it a clean process<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>forget modern quay headings, straight and level, instead think of slopes down to the water covered in the mud of a receding tide, and the deposits left by various animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the early 20th century Edwardian ladies in their finery, going to the horse-racing in Doncaster, were a memorable spectacle tottering down to ferries across local rivers.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoXc1Y0TlLUh03RyLwUJxw6LBoUrpyHideX1gjP1SEmE5MhPFK12rBJKZhg_kc0fPLwwKvRd2HKkJ5NImNkccijn0m8nDRwRKQhyEHCOc-5IWKqZMenDMsroZL4TgxSQDDh5kWC-4bcE/s1600/Catchment+All+Rivers+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzoXc1Y0TlLUh03RyLwUJxw6LBoUrpyHideX1gjP1SEmE5MhPFK12rBJKZhg_kc0fPLwwKvRd2HKkJ5NImNkccijn0m8nDRwRKQhyEHCOc-5IWKqZMenDMsroZL4TgxSQDDh5kWC-4bcE/s320/Catchment+All+Rivers+2.JPG" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, in the ages of no bridges and sparse, small, slow, and intermittent ferries it was very common for fording points to be used<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>wait until the water levels and flows are low and then wade across a river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a period the Humber waterways were the northern limit of the Romans’ occupation of England while they figured out where the soldiers of an army could cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also had to bear in mind the terrain beyond the far bank where numerous rivers would have to be forded<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but in their short tunics and sandals they had “go-anywhere” gear, like my resolute childhood heroes the Famous Five who always coped wearing jumpers, shorts and “rubber-soled” shoes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are differing opinions on where the Romans crossed, and in 1953, and again in 2005, intrepid fellows walked across the Humber (one did use a boat for a stretch!) to prove a point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that’s for a future post.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4319471802940756169.post-25969101233494354742012-05-02T17:32:00.000+01:002012-05-11T15:04:49.225+01:00Welcome<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirM153vnWgKzkw2u1V514HS6dQDKWxreoeMqaJMvNBGQgDKG-MLI6js6DevmLthMhXp81wj5_G1k6fzUng9_3Tu58biXkOGutpLiRImhvPR2c9XKt1cK_kZ6c8FUbq_rnsRrULzKKOok/s1600/Region+Map+04.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" dba="true" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjirM153vnWgKzkw2u1V514HS6dQDKWxreoeMqaJMvNBGQgDKG-MLI6js6DevmLthMhXp81wj5_G1k6fzUng9_3Tu58biXkOGutpLiRImhvPR2c9XKt1cK_kZ6c8FUbq_rnsRrULzKKOok/s400/Region+Map+04.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There's much to see</span></td></tr>
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Welcome to the rivers and canals of the Humber area, and the upper reaches of the estuary itself. These waters are varied in type, size, history, and current usage - but they are all linked and visiting them offers a wide diversity of scenes and subjects.<br />
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We thoroughly enjoy these waterways, and their variety never wanes. The years of the creation of the canals covers the widest range in the UK - the rivers before them all differing in their geography, histories and present day use.<br />
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We hope that, via this blog, you will join us in exploring the <strong>Waterways of the Humber</strong>.<br />
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Christine and Malcolm Richardson</div>
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<br /></div>Christine Richardsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02370086337444802300noreply@blogger.com2