The history of the Aire & Calder Navigation

By the late 1600s Leeds was already England’s biggest centres for the manufacture of woollen cloth. When the Robinson Crusoe author Daniel Defoe paid a visit he described the cloth market as “indeed a Prodigy of its Kind, and is not to be equalled in the World”.
By Roger Ratcliffe
Published 15th Jul 2024, 06:00 BST

However, only small boats could carry the cloth down the River Aire to the Humber, where it had to be transferred to ships bound for markets in Holland and Germany. If the West Riding’s woollen industry was to expand still further it required an improved waterway connecting the area to the growing port of Hull.

In 1699 William II signed an Act of Parliament authorising the making of the Aire and Calder rivers navigable to the tidal River Ouse by constructing short canals to bypass narrow and twisting stretches. In partnership with their Wakefield counterparts, the Leeds merchants paid for this work, plus the canalising and deepening of parts of the rivers. Their respective stretches met at Castleford. The first large vessels from the Humber reached Leeds Bridge in 1700 and made the journey to Wakefield the following year.

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The construction of 16 locks was required, their sizes increasing several times over the years along with more work to deepen the water and enable ever-larger boats to use the system. A canal linking Knottingley to the new port of Goole shortened the journey when it opened in 1826. The total length of the waterway is 34 miles.

Aire & Calder NavigationAire & Calder Navigation
Aire & Calder Navigation

Today the Aire & Calder’s historic function of carrying freight is still served, most cargoes being oil, sand and gravel. Until 2002 coal was also transported. It is a popular route for leisure craft, and one of the original goods terminals, Clarence Dock in Leeds, has been redeveloped to provide modern flats, shops, restaurants and the Royal Armouries Museum.

Related topics:LeedsEnglandHumber