North Eastern Waters

Sue O’Hare explores four Silver Propeller Challenge locations on North Eastern rivers and canals

The North Eastern waterways have a very di erent character om the Midland canals and there is much here to be discovered. Four Silver Propeller Challenge locations, two on canals and two on river navigations, provide further incentive. All are on connected inland waterways, albeit one requiring passage of the Humber Estuary. The two canal locations can be visited by trip-boat. The locations illustrate diverse themes of ancient history, medieval tradition, trade and industry, nature and restoration.

Harlem Hill Lock, River Ancholme

The River Ancholme is a tributary of the River Humber in North Lincolnshire. It rises south of Bishopbridge, flows northwards through Brigg and the fenland area of the Ancholme Level, and joins the Humber at South Ferriby. There is evidence that the Ancholme was used by se lers for various purposes om as early as 500,000 BC. Archaeological excavations found the Brigg ‘Ra ’, a late Bronze Age flat-bo omed ferry built by ‘sewing’ planks together with willow or poplar rope. Work to improve land drainage and navigation was carried out om the 13th century, culminating in John Rennie’s New River Ancholme Drainage Scheme of 1825. This enlarged the navigation and included Rennie’s only suspension bridge, the Grade II* listed Horkstow Bridge, a mile upstream of Ferriby Sluice.

The Ancholme was navigable to Bishopbridge and was an important route for Humber keels and sloops carrying cargo between rural communities and industrial towns. In the 19th century a passenger packet boat ran between Brigg and South Ferriby, connecting with a steamer to Hull. Some 21 miles are navigable, but the Environment Agency closed Harlem (or Harlam) Hill Lock in 2012, cu ing o the top 2 miles to Bishopbridge. IWA campaigns to reopen it. Brigg is the only town on the route, in a loop formed by the old and new channels of the river. It is remembered in the Lincolnshire folk song ‘Brigg Fair’ used as the basis of choral and orchestral arrangements by composers Percy Grainger and Frederick Delius.

Between Brigg and Harlem Hill Lock, the derelict Caistor Canal joins the river. It was intended as a navigable feeder, rising through six broad locks to the market town of Caistor 8 miles to the east. It was never completed and appears to have become disused in the 1850s but is maintained by the Environment Agency as a main drainage channel.

Navigation is a summer pursuit, since the river levels are reduced om November to April for flood protection reasons. The Environment Agency’s TrentWitham-Ancholme surface water transfer scheme assists when the natural flow is insu cient.

To quali for the Silver Propeller Challenge, larger boats can reach Harlem Hill Lock and wind near the River Rase Weir, while small portable cra can reach Bishopbridge. A public slipway is available at Brandy Wharf Leisure Park below the lock.

Further information can be found at visitanglianwaterways.org/ and gov.uk/guidance/ river-ancholme-bridge-heights-locks-and-facilities.

Melbourne Basin or Bielby, Pocklington Canal

The Pocklington Canal crosses a rural area of East Yorkshire, just west of the Yorkshire Wolds. It never quite reached the market town of Pocklington and the terminus was a mile to the south-west, at Canal Head by the York-Hull turnpike road (today’s A1079). From Canal Head, the canal runs 9½ miles through nine broad locks to Cottingwith Junction where it joins the River Derwent. The Derwent in turn joins the tidal River Ouse through Barmby Barrage 11½ miles downstream. Upstream on the Derwent lies Elvington (or Sutton) Lock, which has been the subject of considerable IWA campaigning but remains closed, meaning that only portable craft can navigate the remaining 6 miles to Stamford Bridge.

The canal is a good example of the decline and revival of inland waterways. It was relatively late in opening in 1818 but proved a useful route for agricultural produce to the rapidly growing towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire and coal, lime, fertilisers, building materials and industrial products in the other direction. After only 30 years, it was in railway ownership. It suffered declining maintenance, and the last traffic was in the early 1930s. The canal was never formally abandoned, but it was threatened by a proposal in 1959 to use it as a dump for sludge from a water treatment works. The Pocklington Canal Amenity Society (PCAS) was formed in 1969. Since then, restoration has proceeded with support from British Waterways and the Canal & River Trust as well as local and national government. IWA has provided practical support through WRG as well as financial support through the legacy of former Honorary Engineer Tony Harrison.

The canal has been restored from the Derwent to Bielby, including the first four locks and the arms at Melbourne and Bielby. The final 2½ miles are still under restoration. There are several interesting features. The engineer George Leather Jr. designed particularly elegant brick bridges with four semi-circular buttresses, now Grade II listed. The locks are sized for Yorkshire keels, are notably deep and feature large wheels to operate the gate paddles. During the railway ownership, some of the balance beams were made from lengths of railway line bolted together.

The canal is particularly known for wildlife: three Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) include almost the whole length, and it is home to otters as well as barn owls, dragonflies, kingfishers, water voles and many plant species. The entire canal was awarded Green Flag status in 2018. Either Melbourne Basin or the junction at Bielby counts for the Silver Propeller Challenge. PCAS runs boat trips from Melbourne Basin. More information can be found at pocklingtoncanalsociety.org/.

Ripon Basin, Ripon Canal

The city of Ripon in North Yorkshire is one of the smallest in England but full of interest. It is a medieval city with winding lanes and an impressive cathedral containing a 7th-century crypt and the tomb of St Wilfrid, who founded a Benedictine monastery here in 672. The annual Wilfrid Procession, dating from 1108, commemorates him. Another ancient tradition, thought to be one of the longest continuous ones in the world, is the ‘Setting the Watch’ ceremony. This has taken place at 9pm every day since 886, when Alfred the Great granted a charter to Ripon in the form of a horn. The only changes have been an earlier time during World War II and moving online during the Covid pandemic. A ‘Wakeman’ would blow the horn to let the people know that the ‘watch’ for overnight Viking raids was ‘set’. In 1604 the Wakeman was replaced with a ‘Hornblower’, who blows at all four corners of the obelisk in the market square and then in front of the Mayor.

A 16th/17th-century plan to make Ripon into a University of the North to rival Oxford and Cambridge did not come to fruition. Instead, Ripon became known for the manufacture of spurs and for horse racing. The first recorded meeting was held in 1664 and Britain’s first race for female riders took place in 1723.

In this light, the canal connecting Ripon to the River Ure seems relatively recent, even though it was one of the earliest and opened in 1773. The plans were drawn up by John Smeaton and the canal is 2.3 miles long with three locks. From the junction at Oxclose Lock, the River Ure runs for a further 8 miles and two locks south-east to Swale Nab, where it becomes the Yorkshire Ouse, leading through York to Goole and the Humber Estuary.

The canal enabled the local 58ft keels to reach Ripon and was moderately successful but was effectively disused by 1892. Attempts to abandon the canal were initially resisted locally but eventually, despite objections by IWA, the upper two locks were demolished in 1956. Subsequently, IWA persuaded North Yorkshire County Council to include full restoration in its plans. The Ripon Canal Society was formed in 1983 and the restoration was completed in 1996. Until the Ribble Link connecting the Lancaster Canal to the main network was opened, Ripon Basin was the most northerly point of the connected waterways network. The whole length of the canal has Green Flag status.

Boat trips are available from Ripon Basin ripon-scenic-cruises.co.uk/.

More information can be found at canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/ canal-and-river-network/ripon-canal.

Wormald's cut, River Foss

Wormald’s Cut is a short arm off the River Foss in York, near the confluence with the River Ouse. The Foss rises in the Howardian Hills and winds south through the Vale of York. Remains of Roman wharves and warehouses have been found on its banks. William the Conqueror had it dammed to create a moat around York Castle and a lake known as the King’s Pool. Sedimentation and waste from the growing city eventually almost stopped the flow and the river became a public health hazard.

Navigation activity continued nonetheless and in 1777 the first recorded launch of an iron boat took place. In 1791, the Foss Navigation Company was formed with the aims of making the river properly navigable and solving its flooding problems. Both William Jessop and John Rennie were involved in construction. The navigation was opened as far as Strensall in 1797 and extended to Sheriff Hutton by 1804, with six locks over 13 miles. Water supply was always problematic despite the building of Oulston Reservoir and a back pumping system, and extensive dredging was needed to combat the persistent sedimentation.

The navigation was never a financial success but did generate traffic. Barges carried lime, coal and bones for the bonemeal works at Stillington upstream, and agricultural products into York. Traffic declined after the railways arrived and the problems of smell returned. In 1853 York Corporation had to buy out the Foss Navigation Company, and shortly afterwards all except the lowest section of the navigation was abandoned.

Traffic on the lower reaches persisted well into the 20th century and Wormald’s Cut was a centre of activity. Until the 1980s cocoa beans were brought to Rowntree’s Wharf, built in 1860 as a flour mill and bought by Rowntree’s in 1937. On the other bank, barges brought 200 tons of newsprint per week from Goole for the Yorkshire Evening Press until 1997.

Only the bottom lock, Castle Mills Lock, and the first 1½ miles up to Monk Bridge are navigable. The City of York Council initially operated the lock for a charge but, thanks to a formal agreement, it is now operated by volunteers from IWA and the River Foss Society as a bookable free service to boaters. The Foss makes an interesting day trip, giving a different view of York.

More information can be found at riverfosssociety.co.uk/.

To book passage through Castle Mills Lock, see waterways.org.uk/ waterways/discover-the-waterways/river-foss#lock.