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Bridging the gap
– a canal’s north-south divide Driffield Navigation Trustees David Hamilton, right and David Taylor at Wansford Lock. PHOTOS: JANET RICHARDSON
There are plans to create a heritage centre and museum at Mortimer’s Warehouse.
By Janet Richardson
CELEBRATIONS will take place in the East Yorkshire market town of Great Driffield to mark the 250th anniversary of the Act of Parliament to create the canal which bears its name. As reported last month, a waterways festival will be held over the weekend of July 1-2 centred around the Riverhead Wharf – the canal’s head of navigation. Open to the public for the first time will be Mortimer’s Warehouse thanks to the current owners Jayne Briggs and John Scholey who are supporters of the local organisations which seek to return the canal to its former glory. Plans are also in the pipeline to create a heritage centre and museum in the building. The Driffield Navigation Trust manages the canal and the Driffield Navigation Amenities Association raises funds and organises working parties. I met two of the navigation trustees, chairman David Hamilton and press officer David Taylor, also both DNAA members, who explained that these integrated organisations work very closely together. They were formed in the 1960s – a pivotal period in the canal’s history as it also saw the construction of a road bridge which effectively cut off the two-mile northern section between Wansford and Driffield. But this was before the resurgence of the canals for recreational use. With the Frodingham arm there are 13 miles of canal altogether – all in good condition and all navigable apart from the low Wansford bridge which is the
only obstacle and was built in 1967 by the former East Riding County Council to replace an old wooden bridge which was in a dangerous condition. David Hamilton explained: “You can just about get underneath the concrete bridge with a canoe. At the time there was no effective management of the canal, no one to fight the cause of the waterway and reach an agreement with the council that if the waterway came back into use they would replace the bridge.” Although he believes there was a gentlemen’s agreement, it was never fully documented. The bridge is now owned by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council which is waking up to the tourism and economic potential – especially since the Tour de Yorkshire. “But it is getting the financial and political will to do it.” DNAA has now launched a fund for the replacement of the bridge with a structure which can be opened for boats to pass through once more.
Trade links
Opened to traffic in 1770, the canal was built to establish important trade links between the market town and Hull. The original navigation was upstream of Snakeholme Lock but in 1805 the building of Struncheon Hill Lock raised the water level of this formerly tidal section to 6ft. The southern end of the canal locks out at the end of Aike Beck, near Beverley, into the tidal River Hull which flows into the Humber Estuary giving access to the inland waterways network – and the rest of the world.
The attractive Riverhead area could play a central part in the town’s renaissance.
The only narrowboat you can currently see in Driffield is this garden feature.
What a contrast: boats moored at Bethell’s Bridge towards the southern end of the canal. This enabled the large barges and 60ft square-rigged keels to bring coal to Driffield’s warehouses to fire old steam engines on the land and return with 70-tonne cargoes of grain and local produce from suppliers such as the Linseed Oil & Cake Company which had a factory in the town. With the arrival of the railway and, particularly, the growth of road haulage, canal traffic dwindled and died off – the last commercial craft on the navigation was the Ousefleet which delivered coal to Frodingham Wharf in December 1951. After 50 years of voluntary activity including a £500,000 investment in new locks and bridges, most of the canal has been fully restored. Teeming with wildlife, it passes through some of the most beautiful East Yorkshire countryside which you can’t see from the road. One of the projects in recent years has been the £75,000 restoration of Wansford Lock in 2009 to provide a bywash which also serves as a flood relief channel. This had become a matter of urgency following the flooding of several nearby
homes in 2007. Since then the villages of Skerne and Wansford have created a community lockside garden and picnic area which is also popular with visitors.
Trip boats
This year will see the replacement of two accommodation bridges serving the two trout farms alongside the canal and the launch of a new trip boat – a former North Sea oil rig lifeboat – to operate between Riverhead and Wansford. But the main event will be the July extravaganza which will include a full programme of events and a gala dinner dance for 250 people in a marquee on the Saturday evening. Mr Hamilton said: “We couldn’t let such an important landmark in the history of the canal pass without celebrating it in some way.” As well as the support of both the canal organisations, Driffield Town Council has given a £5000 grant towards the cost of the festival and is also backing development plans. “The canal made Driffield and
The popular lockside picnic area and community garden at Wansford.
Obstacle to navigation: the road bridge at Wansford. we hope it will be part of the town’s renaissance,” he added. It is hoped to have as many boats as possible moored in the canal basin over the weekend of July 1-2. Smaller boats on trailers, dinghies and canoes can be launched at Riverhead and a crane will be provided to lift in bigger boats by prior arrangement. Boaters hoping to bring larger craft can reach the moorings outside the Trout Inn below the Wansford Bridge from where transport will be provided to the festival. Larger boats up to about 35ft long can sail to North Frodingham Landing where they will be lifted out by crane and transported by road to Riverhead. Lifting out will take place on Tuesday, June 27 with the boats being returned to the landing on Tuesday, July 4. For more information contact David Hamilton on 01262 420271 or 07721 913401. For dinner dance tickets and boat lifting contact DNT vice-chairman Mr Scholey on 07753 817957.
A new landing on the north side of Bethell’s Bridge.