From Sowerby Bridge we continued down the Calder and Hebble and to what we were led to believe was the shortest lock we would encounter on our trips round the system.
'Holderness' is 58'10" long and we had never been down the Salterhebble Locks in her. I think the middle lock is supposed to be the shortest lock and as we drained the top lock ready for our decent I did wonder about taking the front and bow fenders off, but didn't. As we lowered down with the boat in the lock it became evident that we did fit, just, but to make things easier I loosed the stern fender. The big problem came when we got down to below the cill. The bottom of the gate was leaking badly and as we had nowhere to go and the water was pouring in the aft deck. By the time I had managed to kick the bow round the one gate to open and then leave the engine hole was quite full. I think that if I came this way again I would perhaps come down the lock stern first as there is plenty of room to turn before the second lock. The two locks were a staircase at one time.
The bottom lock of Salterhebble is another one with a guillotine bottom gate and luckily it is electified. Even more luckily the C&RT carpenter was busy replacing a foot board on the top gates so said he would close up afterwards so we were speedily through and non the worse for wear from our experience.
The River Calder accompanies the canal closely at this point, and indeed a canal bridge was washed away. At Brookfoot Lock the scene is quite picturesque with a lock, a keepers, or toll house and nice stone bridge. To the extreme left of the photo is another lock that used to pen down into the River Calder itself. The canal cut was dug between 1805 and 1808 so the lock must have been constructed then. The Navigation sought to 'abandon' the river sections in 1834 so maybe that was when it was closed.
To the west of Wakefield is Thornes Lock. In the photo above you can see that there is an abandoned lock to the left and a newer, larger lock to the right. The new lock was opened in 1838. In 1834 the Aire and Calder Navigation was enlarging their locks to 70' length and there was pressure from The Huddersfield and Rochdale Canals for the Calder and Hebble to do the same. Only a few were enlarged before they ran out of steam. The old lock was retained during the construction to allow traffic to continue to flow.
This Fall Ings Lock dates from 1806 when the Calder and Hebble, jointly with the Aire and Calder, built the cut that by past the Wakefield weir. Previously the terminus of the Aire and Calder was on the opposite bank and ended in a basin. The terminus of the Aire and Calder was on the river above the weir where there are still warehouses.
Now working along the Aire and Calder we soon entered the Broadreach Cut that is dead straight for over a mile and at the northern end is the Stanley Ferry Aqueducts. In the photo to the left is the basin that was Lofthouse Colliery Basin where Tom Puddings were loaded until 1924. Then old tank barges were used to store oils in for distribution until the 1960's when T. Fletcher and Sons took it over for their barge business. The stone building is is an original toll office, complete with columns. The bridge is the trough suspension bridge that was designed and built by George Leather and opened in 1839. Mining subsidence meant it was due to be demolished once replaced with a new one opened in 1981 but it has since been refurbished and is now also open.
Just before the Castleford Flood lock the rivers Aire and Calder merge to become one larger Aire. This is not strictly a canal bridge but I love it with the conveniently stranded remains of the barge below and the largest stone ground flour mill in its time next to the bridge. Queen's Mill, formerly known as Allinson's Mill had 20 stones, steel and timber bridge was opened in 2008 as part of a regeneration scheme.
At the othger end of the Castleford Cut is Bulholme Lock back down on to the Aire, seen here from a hill of colliery waste at Fairburn Ings nature reserve that has been formed out of the waste heaps. The bridge is the railway that brought the trains of waste wagons to dumb there. We were watching cuckoos flitting backwards and forwards as we walked around here.
The locks on the Aire and Calder are huge and can take the 700 t tanker barges that still occasional pass. Luckily they are all automated with a push button pedestal at either end. When commercial craft are a round a lock keeper works them through. The yellow signs on the end of each gate make it easy for the barges to see whether the gates are open or closed. Also the 'paddle gear' has indicators on the arm so that you can see in what position they are in. This is Whitley Lock with the M62 in the background.
This is Pollington swing bridge which is left open. This is below the bridge and lock and gives access for farm vehicles etc. As you can see it is worked by hand by a chain round a capstan. A good chance to practice your sea shanties.
This must be the largest lock on the entire system as it looks bigger than that at Sharpness, but I may be wrong there. The daimensions are 80' x 375' (24.38m x 114.3m). It is Ocean Lock at Goole that is the eastern terminus of the Aire and Calder Navigation and gives access out on to the River Ouse. It was opened in 1938 and the public right of way passes over it.
Again not strictly a bridge but an aqueduct. It spans the River Went that about a mile further east joins the tidal Dutch River that was built by Vermuyden in the 1620's to ensure a proper draining of the land through just one outlet of the river Don. In the past the River Went was part of two schemes to create anew waterway, but each time the Aire and Calder Co were able to out maneuver the bid by updating their own navigation. It is a great place to moor for a while as there is no road access and is nice and quiet, except for the gun club not too far away, and the large tanker barges that turn down the New Junction canal on the way to and from Rotherham.
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