Sheffield Basin Swing Bridge - Sheffield, UK - Moving Bridges on Waymarking.com

The Sheffield and Tinsley Canal
The Sheffield Canal is a canal in the City of Sheffield, England. It runs 3.9 miles (6.3 km) from Tinsley, where it leaves the River Don, to the Sheffield Canal Basin (now Victoria Quays) in the city centre, passing through 11 locks.

Sheffield is on the River Don, but the upper reaches of the river were not navigable. In medieval times, the goods from Sheffield had to be transported overland to the nearest inland port - Bawtry on the River Idle. Later, the lower reaches of the Don were made navigable, but boats could still not reach Sheffield.

The canal opened in 1819 as a broad canal made to accommodate Yorkshire keels. These were 61ft (18.6m) long by 15 ft (4.6m) wide and either powered by sail or bow-hauled by the families that owned them if there was no wind. There were also 'horse marines', a man and horse who would tow the boat on the navigation for a price.

The canal forms part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigations network of canals and rivers.

At the terminus of the canal was a wharf where the boats were loaded and unloaded. The commercial boat traffic on the canal slowly declined after the canal company was bought out by a railway company until it closed in the 1970s. However leisure boaters still use the canal and since the 1990s the wharf has been regenerated and is now a popular area with boaters and tourists alike.

As part of the regeneration there is now a boat marina. The swing bridge gives access for pedestrians across the canal and is opened when boats enter or leave the marina. The bridge is manually operated.

Bridge Type: Swing Bridge Pedestrian Traffic: yes Bicycle Traffic: yes Vehicular Traffic: no Railway Traffic: no Built: Not listed Span: Not listed

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