Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/29

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AIRE AND CALDER NAVIGATION
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six locks. From the junction of the two rivers to Weeland, the distance is eighteen miles and a quarter, with a fall of 34½ feet by four locks, making the total length of navigation from Leeds to Weeland near thirty miles. On this part of the line of navigation are several short canals, railroads, &c. the property of individuals, who have made them for the easier conveyance of the produce of their estates to the banks of the river; as for instance, at Fairburn, a canal, the property of Lord Palmerston, a quarter of a mile long, level with the river, for the use of his lordship's extensive lime and gypsum quarries. Mr. Watson and Mr. Haxby, at Brotherton, have each one, about one furlong and one chain in length; from Mr. Haxby's canal a short railway is carried to the lime-quarries, north of Brotherton; near to the west end of Crier Cut, close to the Leeds Race Course, there is a railway and staith for conveying and shipping the coal from Lord Stourton's collieries on Rothwell Haigh; near Knowstrop there is a railway from the Marchioness of Hertford's collieries, at Waterloo, for the supply of Leeds: there are also railroads at Crier Cut and opposite the Leeds Race Course, for the delivery of coals from this colliery going eastward; near to Methley, a staith and railway from Sir John Lowther's collieries, at Astley; and in the township of Methley, there is a railway for conveying to the river the coals from the Earl of Mexbro's works; considerable quantities of building-lime are also shipped at Weldon and Fryston. At a short distance above Leeds Bridge is the basin of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, which locks down at this place into the River Aire, thereby connecting the two navigations.

The source of the Calder is above Todmorden, amongst the hills which constitute the grand ridge, or, as it is popularly termed, the back bone of England, in the same field where the West Calder takes its rise, which in its course westwards, joins the Ribble and enters the Irish Sea. Leaving the hills in which it rises, the Calder pursues an easterly course through the romantic valley of Todmorden, passing the populous hamlets of Hebden Bridge and Sowerby Bridge, to within two miles of Halifax; thence by Elland, Brighouse, Kirklees Park, the seat of Sir George Armytage, Bart. in the vicinity of which a considerable stream, the Colne, falls into it; proceeding thence by Mirfield,