We move up stream past the local Sea Scouts and Rowing club buildings to the south and approach our first challenge; the Knostrop Fall Lock. Tying up to allow Dennis to get off and operate the lock, it gives us the opportunity to take a walk up past the lock-keeper’s building to have a look at the recently constructed movable river weir; completed in 2017, it forms part of the city’s wider flood alleviation scheme and is a model of modern engineering, complete with fish ladder to enable salmon to return to their spawning grounds.
Again, we have a contrast of the new and the old; as we stand on the modern bridge overlooking the weir, we see the huge stone abutments of a former railway swing bridge which connected the Hunslet Goods Railway from Beeston Junction to the Hunslet (North) Goods Yard on the north bank of the river at Knostrop.
The swing bridge was erected to enable larger ships to pass through, but legend has it that the bridge never actually swung; certainly not in anger.
The line ran from 1899 to 1968, with the bridge dismantled sometime in the 1970s; it is, however possible to see the buffer stops atop the north side abutment; the old goods yard now serves as Tilcon production facility.
Check back in the next few days as John’s cruise continues up through Knostrop Fall Lock.