The Pocklington Canal
The Pocklington Canal is a rural waterway to be found in
East Yorkshire running for nine and a half miles between Pocklington and a
junction with the Derwent at East
Cottingwith. The canal being built to carry coal and service local
agriculture.
The history of the canal stretches as far back as 1765
with proposals for a canal link to the Humber estuary is first recorded,
though none of these ideas came to anything until 1812 when George Leather
Junior was employeyed by the earl Fitzwilliam to survey a possible route,
who finding difficulties with the original plan suggested the current route
for the canal.
In 1814 the Pocklington Canal company was formed, with an
Act authorising the project passed the following year in 1815 and work
commencing immediately and completed in 1818,
for once stay in within budget, which was a rare achievement for such
projects.
Commercially it did not meet the hopes of its backers in
terms of traffic and profits and was sold to the
York and North Midland Railway in
1848, who wre oblidged to keep the canal open, but did little more than that
a policy that continued when the Railway company was subsequently taken over
by the North Eastern Railway, though trade on the canal did continue until
about 1932 with the canal remaining navigable for a few years after that.
1948 saw the nationalisation of the Railway Companies,
which effectively meant most of the canals were nationalised too as the
Railway Companies had bought most of the canal system out, either to reduce
competition or to complement their own services. This saw the canals
pass into the hands of the British Transport Commission and then
later British Waterways, by which time, though never formerly abandoned it
had deteriorated well past the point where it could be conceivably
navigable.
A change of fortunes came in 1959 when the suggestion was
mage that it should be in-filled with “ inoffensive sludge” from the local
water treatment plant, which met with much local protest as well as
opposition from the inland Waterways
Association and the Inland Waterway protection Society. MP’s were lobbied
and the troubles of the waterway were heard in the House of Commons, which
inspired enough political and public interest to inspire the thought of
restoration, which moved further forward in 1969 with the formation of the
Pocklington Canal Amenity Society, who inspired teams of volunteers to begin
the long task of clearing the canal of weeds and debris and making the
Towpaths usable again.
The canal is now navigable and runs through three
different sites of special scientific interest, which means the areas come
under the protection of Natural England, whose guidance has to be sought
before works are undertaken here. The rural setting has preserved the
waterway from obstructions and it still runs its original course.