The Barnsly Canal
"The Barnsley Canal was approved by Parliament in 1793. The section between Barnsley and the Aire and Calder Navigation near Wakefield opened in 1799, with the section from Barnsley to Barnby Basin opening three years later.
It was a broad canal with 15 locks between the River Calder and the main level at Walton. A further 5 locks took the canal up to Barnby Basin, with water needing to be back-pumped up this flight, as the company was not allowed to take water from the Dearne at Barnby. The main level was supplied from Wintersett and Cold Hiendley Reservoirs.
Half a mile east of Barnsley, the canal crossed the River Dearne on a high five arch aqueduct. On the south side of this aqueduct was the junction with the Dearne and Dove Canal, which opened in 1804 and ran to the River Don Navigation at Swinton.
The colliery at Barnby ran into difficulties fairly soon after the canal opened, but the company built a tramroad from Barnby Basin to Silkstone Colliery, which produced good quality coal, helping the canal to be very successful. Barnby Colliery later re-opened and other collieries close to the canal's route through Barnsley, Monk Bretton and Royston added to the prosperity.
As a result of competition from the new railway companies, the Barnsley Canal was leased and later bought by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, which improved the waterway and enlarged the locks, with trade picking up again for a number of years. In 1893, the section of canal above Barugh Locks was closed as most of the trade here had been lost to the railways.
Although trade on the rest of the canal continued through to World War II, the canal suffered from constant subsidence problems due to mining, with the banks needing to be built up. Subsidence caused a spectacular breach at the southern end of Barnsley Aqueduct in 1911, which closed the canal for eight months. Another huge breach occurred at Littleworth in 1946 which directly led to the canal's closure in 1953. The company had decided that it would be cheaper to compensate the canal's users than to constantly repair the canal. Barnsley Aqueduct was demolished a year later, as it was showing large cracks and a sag due to mining subsidence."
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large parts of the canal have been drained and some covered over. At this point there is water in the canal, but at a much lower level than needed for boats.
Haw Park & Walton Hall
Walton Hall is a stately home in the county of West Yorkshire, England, near Wakefield. It was built in the Palladian style in 1767 on an island within a 26-acre (11 ha) lake, on the site of a former moated medieval hall. It was the ancestral home of the naturalist and traveller Charles Waterton, who made Walton Hall into the world's first wildfowl and nature reserve. Waterton's son, Edmund, sold the estate.
The Waterton Collection is now in Wakefield Museum.
Walton Hall is now part of the Waterton Park Hotel. In the 1940s and again in the early 1950s and early 1960s the Hall was a maternity home."
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Haw Park Wood is 73 hectares (180 acres) of ancient woodland and was part of the estate of Charles Waterton and is open to the public. The northern section of the wood formed part of the nature reserve.
Wakefield Countryside Services Team manages the wood for its conservation and wildlife value and as well as a number of marked trails the whole area is open access land.
The woodland was designated as a Site of Scientific Interest in 1981 due to its diverse habitat and a Local Nature Reserve in 1992 to reflect its wildlife and educational value.
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The Bridge
"About 7.5 km from the River Calder, Blue Bridge (built 1828) is set in the middle of Haw Park. It is in better condition than Clay Royd Bridge, although the tow path had collapsed beneath the bridge,and was restored as part of the Trans Pennine Trail.
This is the last bridge, from the direction of Walton, before the canal reaches Cold Hiendley Reservoir."
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The bridge is a Historic England Grade II Listed Building.
"Accommodation bridge. Late C18. Hammer-dressed stone, parapet partly rendered. Single horse-shoe elliptical arch reinforced with heavily-grooved metal plates on south side to protect angle from wear of tow ropes. Set in middle of intrados on north side is vertical narrow groove rising from horizontal segmental-arched shallow recess close to water's edge (perhaps formerly to support a sluice gate). Splayed retaining walls. Band and parapet which terminate in square piers at either end."
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Note: The Historic England listing uses the build date as late 18th Century which it also uses for other bridges near hear and coresponds with date the canal was built. The local history website above uses the date 1828, which as it is precise may be more reliable than the Historic England Date.
The local history site also mentions the Trans Pennine Trail which is a long distance walking and cycling trail that connects Southport on the west coat of England with Hornsea on the east coast. The route here follows the towpath of the Barnsley canal.