It’s not the first time I’ve made this trip; I was unfortunate enough to suffer a period of mental illness in the autumn of 2018, but remarkably lucky be pointed in the direction of the men’s group run by Canal Connections. The proximity of the water, the warm camaraderie of my crew mates and the serenity that spending any amount of time on the nation’s waterways brings, did much to aid my recovery.
Today, with the help of Dennis, the friend who introduced me to the CC team, and in the company of family and close friends, I now have the opportunity of retracing the bow wave between Thwaite Mill and the Leeds city centre on the Aire & Calder Navigation.
I suppose it would be useful to add a little context as to how and why this waterway came to be;
there are many resources that provide more information, but briefly the cloth merchants of Leeds had been trying since 1625 to obtain Royal Assent for an Act of Parliament to make improvements to the river which would enable passage of their goods to the Humber ports. After a number of failed attempts an act was passed in 1699, despite continuing opposition from the City of York; the original work was completed by 1704.
Further development took place over the years including a diversion of the original course of the River Aire around Knostrop; but I’m getting ahead of myself as we’ve yet to cast off from our berth at Thwaite Mills……
There had been a fulling mill on the site as early as 1641, but the current building was constructed in the 1820s when the Aire & Calder Navigation Company acquired and redeveloped the site to include a two wheel mill, manager’s house, stables and workers’ cottages. The mill served a number of uses over the next century and a half; from crushing seeds for oil to grinding flint and china stone for the pottery industry and finally as a manufacturer of putty.
Stone abutments remain near our mooring to remind us that there was once a bridge providing access to the island and that when the bridge keeper went for his lunch, the mill was cut off from the outside world!
Photograph by Dennis Nicholson
The collapse of the weir in 1975 left the mill unworkable; however Leeds City Council backed the efforts of a band of volunteers to restore the property and enable it to be re-born as a working industrial museum.
Pulling away from the landing stage, we move gently into the stream and are immediately struck by the contrast between the human influence; buildings and infrastructure on the South bank and the wildlife on and around the water; swans are common around here and the still, sentinel herons give us a glimpse of what pre-history may have looked like; their raptor like appearance can be rather chilling to behold as they haul themselves into the air.
Photograph by Dennis Nicholson
Check back in the next few days as John’s cruise continues up to Knostrop Fall Lock.