Is it a river, or is it a canal?

Wednesday, 23 June 2010 18:00

It is a bit of both!

So we are now on the Calder and Hebble Navigation to give it its official title.

Turning onto the Calder and Hebble

It was constructed after the River Aire was made navigable (Aire and Calder Navigation, Leeds to Wakefield) and opened in 1770. This followed pressure to improve the river above Wakefield. Construction was slow and arguments were plenty, until James Brindley was called in and John Smeaton dismissed. However Smeaton was re-appointed after flooding and finished what he had begun!

The Calder and Hebble Navigation goes north-west towards Sowerby Bridge after Cooper Bridge Junction and its flood lock:

So we have a navigation that is part river, part canal; boaters need to be aware of certain safety rules and the large weirs where the River Calder flows away. The locks are about the same dimensions as the Huddersfield Broad Canal. i.e. 58-60 feet by 14 feet.

There are signs all along the waterway at locks reminding us of water levels, although we had quite a search to find this one.  The flood lock gates are closed when the river is in flood.

Safety sign

There were mills all along the River Calder and the mill owners were sometimes reluctant to support improvements. However, many mills were bought by the Company of Proprietors of the Calder and Hebble Navigation to prevent this opposition to canalisation.

Bottomley and Sons Ltd.'s Mill at Cooper Bridge on the River Calder, now luxury flats

Other branch canals were constructed  - to Dewsbury and Halifax - but the railways became a major competitor to the successful and profitable navigation. Eventually, the Navigation Company took back control and established a carrying company. Nationalisation put paid to the company's dividends and eventually the last coal barges unloaded in 1981.

Today however, it is a quiet and pretty navigation with plenty to see, with reminders of those bygone days.

Modernised warehouse at Coopers Bridge:

The flood lock at Coopers Bridge has visitor moorings and the main road to Leeds crosses Cooper Bridge; there is an handy bus stop here and a post office just south west of the bridge, then bear right. It's a busy and noisy road though, so we moved back a boat's length this morning, so that we can have a better night later.

Moorings at Cooper Bridge Flood Lock