Last Changed: 9 June 1996
Written by Michael Askin, 12 April 1996
History
Caroline, a Humber keel, on the Driffield Navigation
A POTTED HISTORY
In about 1765 John Smeaton was consulted on making the upper Hull navigable, for
keels to reach Great Driffield. His ideas were enlarged by John Grundy, who
recommended a longer artificial section, from Frodingham Beck to Driffield. The
local merchants accepted Grundy's plans and the Act passed in 1767. The whole
navigation was completed in 1770, the canal being 5 miles long from Fisholme on
Frodingham Beck to Driffield and the river section three quarters of a mile from
Emmotland, the juction with the Hull already navigable. There were 4 timbered
floored locks all on the canal section, large enough for craft 61' x 14'6''. In
the early years the navigation was not very successful, the Hull River needing
improvement and a certain amount of dredging was done in the 1780s. On the canal
stretch the lowest lock at Snakeholme was rebuilt as a staircase pair in 1776 so
that vessels could use it over a wider range of tide height. Trade was
increasing so there were ideas for further improvement. In 1796 William Chapman
was called in to make plans and estimates and in 1801 an act was passed.
The scows on the river move fast even in the lightest of breezes.
This also set up a fresh administrative body of commissioners for the new
navigation, working alongside the old navigation commissioners. Chapman was made
engineer and works were completed by 1805. Hull Bridge, about 1 mile upsteam of
Beverley Beck, was raised, and a new lock was built at Struncheonhill below
Emmotland, at the tail of a new cut avoiding a big bend on the river. Struncheon
Hill, probably first a single lock, was soon made into a staircase pair. The
last work was the navigation to Corps Landing on the Hull not finished until
1811. The new navigation started at Aike Beck 3 miles above Hull Bridge. In 1817
a steam passenger packet started to run between Driffield and Hull but was not
too successful. Steady prosperity was the keynote of Driffield history in the
1800s, wheat traffic being important, there is still a working flour mill in
Driffield. In 1846 the railway came to Driffield and, to keep traffic, the
navigation cut tolls and in the 1850s began to consider improvements. Edward
Welsh made a report in 1855 but fear of flooding caused the scheme to be
withdrawn. A steam keel was put on, probably in the 1860s and lasted into the
1900s, and coal traffic kept up while grain fell. In the twentieth centery all
traffic fell away, the last keel came to Driffield in 1945 and to Brigham in
1948.
River head was once a hive of activity.
The canal fell into disuse and disrepair and the commissioners became inquarate
due to death or old age (1960). The result is that the navigation is effectively
blocked in several places by locks which do not work and bridges which do not
open, despite the fact that many stretches of the navigation have never stopped
being used on a regular basis by pleasure craft of all types; the Brigham scow
has been designed especially to cope with the high banks of this waterway and
they do look magnificent when in full sail.
River Hull
Hull Bridge in days gone by.
The Hull has been navigable for a long time, and since the fourteenth century
has been a free navigation. Previously the Archbishops of York had charged
tolls. In the seventeenth century the Hull was navigated to Wansford below
Driffield. There were other navigable tributaries, the Arram Beck just above
Beverley near Leconfield, and the Old Howe and Earl's Dyke above Frodingham, the
last two in 1800 incorporated into the Beverley and Barmston Drain. By the early
nineteenth century traffic on the Hull within the port of Hull became congested
with deep sea vessels as well as river craft. It was relieved by dock
construction, though most in the centre of Hull have been filled (Queen Dock
gardens), or closed (Princess Dock shopping centre). There still remains Humber
Dock and Railway Dock which has been turned into a marina.
Last Changed: 9 June 1996 Written by Michael Askin, 12 April
1996
Copyright ©
Mike Askin 1996