Avoiding the Aire & Calder

Canals That Never Were: NarrowBoat, Autumn 2024

Richard Dean illustrates attempts to break a Yorkshire monopoly

Based on Ordnance Survey mapping. © Crown copyright 62/24 The completion of the Aire & Calder Navigation around 1709 stimulated the growth of West Riding towns and their industries, and soon brought handsome returns to the waterway proprietors. But high freight rates and rapidly increasing traffic congestion at the small locks and on the shallow, winding rivers caused increasing complaints. The Calder & Hebble had brought further trade, and matters came to a head in the 1770s with the prospect of a canal connection from Leeds to Liverpool. Over the next 50 years, several projects emerged for new canals bypassing the navigation which were only defeated by the A&CN itself undertaking major improvements. The Leeds & Selby Canal would extend the L&L over 23 miles to the River Ouse, from where a much better navigation existed to the Humber Estuary. Estimated by John Longbotham at £59,468 and fully subscribed, engineering works would include a ten-arched aq…