Aire And Calder Navigation Bridge 9 - Methley, UK - Orphaned Bridges on Waymarking.com

This Pontefract To Methley Railway Line was built by the Lancashire & York Railway and now is part of the 'Rails To Trails' route 'The Castleford Greenway', part of National Cycle Route 69.

This line opened on 1st December 1849 and closed to passengers on 7th October 1968 and to freight on 23rd February 1981.

It was built at a time of a major expansion in the UK's railway network and there was fierce competition between a number of different railway companies.

In this area all the companies wished to have a connection to Leeds but the competition between the different railway companies resulted in duplication of lines. This section of line formed a connection with the Midland Railway at Methley Junction which did give the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway access to Leeds. This small village ended up with 3 different railway stations and a total of 5 different railway lines formed a complicated triangular junction. It was inevitable that not all the lines would survive as working lines, the surprise is that this line lasted as long as it did.

Work has been undertaken to form a network of walking and cycle paths in his area including the towpath along the Aire and Calder Navigation. However this line also used to have a bridge over the Leeds to Castleford Railway Line (now part of the Hallam Line) at Whitwood Junction that had been demolished.

A new cycle path was built over the Hallam Line in December 2019 allowing the former rail route from Cutsyke to Methley to become a 'Rails to Trails' section of cycle and walking path. This is known as the Castleford Greenway and also forms part of Natioanl Cycle Route 69 which will eventually connect Morecambe to Grimsby but which is being slowly opened in sections and wherever possible uses canals and former railway lines like this one to provide traffic free access.

The Aire And Calder Navigation

The Aire and Calder Navigation was constructed to improve navigation along both the river Calder and the River Aire. For much of the route boats travel along the rivers themselves, at this point the River Calder. However some sections of the rivers were bypassed by artificial canal cuts.

Although originally built under the Aire & Calder's first Act of 1699, much of the route today dates from improvements in the 1820s. The original terminus on the river at Wakefield still survives, but is not navigable. Today, boats use the canal on the other side of the river which was built by the Calder & Hebble Navigation to connect with the Aire & Calder.

This section of the navigation is The Wakefield Branch of the Aire & Calder Navigation and is seven and half miles long and links Wakefield to Castleford. From the point of view of this section of the Navigation this is bridge 9.

Original Use: Railroad Date Built: 1849 Construction: Stone Condition: Good Date Abandoned: 1981 Bridge Status - Orphaned or Adopted.: Adopted See this website for more information: Not listed

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