A walk along the Huddersfield Canals

Armed with my copy of Ray Quinlan's "Canal Walks North" book see Amazon link  I set off on another day trip around the South Pennines using my recently acquired Senior Railcard.

My route today was from Mirfield Station, along the towpath of the Sir John Ramsden's Canal - also known as the Huddersfield Broad Canal - to Huddersfield. Then along the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to Marsden Station - some 14 miles in total.

Initially my route took me along the Calder and Hebble Navigation

... past the Ledgard Bridge boatyard where, in years gone by, wooden hulled Yorkshire keels were built.

Along Battyeford Cut

... to the Huddersfield Canals - see more details by clicking this link Huddersfield Canal Society . The Society has undertaken a lot of work on the Canals in recent years - including fully re-opening the Canals to navigation in 2001. During the period of time when the canal was closed, several lengths were culverted and infilled, and in some cases built over - when Ray Quinlan published his book in 1993, his walk here describes the infilled and built over parts which have since been restored to their former glory.

The Huddersfield Broad Canal (also called by its original name, the Sir John Ramsden Canal) is a wide-locked navigable canal. It is 3¾ miles (6 km) long and has 9 wide locks. 

It follows the valley of the River Colne and connects the Calder and Hebble Navigation at Cooper Bridge junction with the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at (or near) Aspley Basin in the centre of Huddersfield.

Railway viaduct built in 1910 to carry the Midland Railway extension to Huddersfield - the track was removed in 1937

The original purpose of the canal was to connect Huddersfield to the other Yorkshire waterways: ie to the Aire and Calder Navigation via the Calder and Hebble Navigation. It was built by the Ramsden family of Huddersfield, and completed in 1780. The canal passed into railway ownership in 1845 when it was bought by the Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal Company. 

Another old railway viaduct - this one was once part of the Huddersfield to Kirkburton line

Grade II listed building - this used to be a mill but its loading doors have been converted into windows

Locomotive Bridge - just before Aspley Basin - is a lifting bridge

By operating the wheels and chains, the bridge deck rises parallel with the canal.

The bridge is also called Turnbridge because there was a swing bridge originally on this site.

Aspley Basin was originally the terminus of the Sir John Ramsden Canal and had wharves, cranes, mills and warehouses - most have now been demolished

The route takes me briefly away from the canal - I have to cross the Wakefield Road before going down some steps near Huddersfield University to rejoin it

A former transhipment warehouse built in 1778 for Sir John Ramsden and used to store wool.

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal which runs for just under 20 miles from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley Basin to the junction with the Ashton Canal at Whitelands Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne. It crosses the Pennines by means of 74 locks and the Standedge Tunnel.

The canal was first proposed in 1793 at a meeting in the George Hotel, Huddersfield. Its engineer was Benjamin Outram. His plan was to start from the Huddersfield Broad Canal and follow the River Colne with a climb of 438 feet (134 m) to its summit, where it would pass through a tunnel at Standedge before descending through Saddleworth and the Tame valley to the Ashton Canal near Ashton-under-Lyne. 

Construction began in 1794 with the marking out of the route. The practice was to set up a line of pegs or stakes about 150 feet (46 m) apart so that their tops would indicate the intended water level. It would then be possible to construct the appropriate embankments and cuttings.

Progress was slow and erratic. It was also unfortunate that Outram was seriously ill for long periods between 1795 to 1797. In 1799, severe floods damaged earthworks along the canal and of the various reservoirs. In particular, overflow of the Tunnelend reservoir devastated the village of Marsden. Two aqueducts were also destroyed.

Although the canal uses 74 locks to climb and descend the Pennines, there would have had to be many more without the digging of a very long tunnel through the Tame/Colne watershed. The canal tunnel is 17,090 feet (5,210 m) long making it the longest canal tunnel in the United Kingdom.

Railway viaduct of the Huddersfield to Penistone line

In 1810, the Diggle Moss reservoir gave way and Marsden was again flooded, along with much of the Colne Valley. Houses and factories were wrecked and five people lost their lives. The force of the water was such that a fifteen ton rock was carried 2 miles (3.2 km) down the valley.

The canal finally opened in 1811 and operated for approximately 140 years.  Its width (limited to boats less than 7 ft wide), number of locks, and long tunnel made it much less profitable than its main rival, the Rochdale Canal, which had a similar number of locks, but was twice as wide, with no long tunnel. The Standedge tunnel proved to be a real bottleneck, having been constructed without an integral towpath.

Another Grade II listed building

Brewing first started in a garage behind a Punch Taverns pub, The Fieldhead at Quarmby, Huddersfield where brewery proprietor Russ Beverley was the lessee. When the Pub Company found out, Russ was given an ultimatum whereby if he didn't stop brewing his lease would not be renewed. So when the lease came to its end, Russ took the heroic course and moved his brewing operation to the redundant boiler house of a textile mill adjacent to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal at Slaithwaite.

Marsden Station for a train to Huddersfield then back home to Sheffield

Another great South Pennine Day Ranger day out

Around Skipton

Whilst staying in Wharfedale, I took time out to visit Skipton, its woods, its canal basin and its castle.

Skipton (or Skipton-in-Craven) was a prosperous market town, trading sheep and woollen goods, which also led to its naming, derived from the Old English sceap (sheep) and tun (town or village). A market stemming from its formative years still survives, albeit with significant modification. 

In the 19th century, Skipton emerged as a small mill town connected to the major cities by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and its branch Thanet Canal, (known locally as 'Springs branch Canal')

Skipton Wood was originally used by Skipton Castle primarily for hunting and fishing, although during the 18th and 19th centuries, the wood was also used to provide timber, building stone and water. The timber and stone was moved out of the wood via Springs Canal (a small branch off the Leeds and Liverpool Canal). 

The water was obtained by damming Eller Beck to form Long Dam, which in turn fed a small reservoir called Round Dam, also known as Mill Dam or Mill Pond. The water was used to power the former sawmill and corn mill located by the castle. Public access to the wood was first allowed by the owners of the castle in 1971 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Over 900 years old, Skipton Castle is one of the most complete and best preserved medieval castles in England. Soon after 1090 Robert de Romille, a Norman baron, built a primitive fort here but its timber ramparts did little to stop rampaging Scots during their frequent raids into northern England. It was replaced with a more formidable stone castle which stood on top of a rocky bluff with rising ground to the front and a sheer precipice falling to the Eller Beck behind.

The history of the castle is inseparable from that of the Clifford family who were granted the property by Edward II in 1310, when Robert Clifford was appointed first Lord Clifford of Skipton and Guardian of Craven, the wide tract of countryside to the north and west of Skipton.

The Clifford's Norman forebears took the name from Clifford Castle in Herefordshire which they also owned. Robert Clifford began heavily fortifying the castle, but he was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 with his new stronghold barely completed.

During the Civil War it was the last Royalist bastion in the North, yielding only after a three-year siege in 1645. ‘Slighted' under the orders of Cromwell, the castle was skilfully restored by the redoubtable Lady Anne Clifford.  Skipton remained the Clifford's principal seat until 1676. Today, their banner flies over the castle with the approval of the present Lord Clifford of Chudleigh

For more details of the Castle see this link Skipton Castle

Skipton’s canal basin is a busy part of the town. Traditional and modern boats can be seen on this stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal which threads its way through the centre of Skipton. 

Visitors can take boat trips on the canal, walk along the network of canal towpaths or simply sit and watch the colourful narrow-boats go by.

Once a year, the canal basin is the venue for the Skipton Waterway Festival, the largest annual meeting of canal boats in the north of England.

On 18 March 2010, a bronze statue of Freddie Trueman by Yorkshire-born sculptor Graham Ibbeson was unveiled by Veronica Trueman at the Canal basin in Skipton. 

Just in case you need reminding who he was ... Sir Frederick Sewards ("Fred") Trueman OBE (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer, author, and broadcaster. He was generally acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers in history. A bowler of genuinely fast pace who was widely known as "Fiery Fred", Trueman played first-class cricket for Yorkshire County Cricket Club from 1949 until he retired in 1968. He represented England in 67 Test matches and was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career.