Shipley Junction - Bridge 208, Leeds & Liverpool Canal
Fig. 1.1 - Bridge 208 on the Leeds & Liverpool canal stands east of the town of Shipley in West Yorkshire. Located amongst an industrial setting, it's purpose was to carry towpath users from the north side of the canal to the south. But not for the Leeds and Liverpool canal - but across to the Bradford Canal, a short branch down to the city, a few miles south.
Fig
1.2. On
the corner of Shipley Junction stands a lone post - ready to take a sign
when the Bradford Canal reopens perhaps??? Let's hope it's not to long
before it does.
The remains of the Bradford canal that are still filled with water amount to no more than 30 metres in length, but apart from acting as a large turning circle (winding hole) for canal boats is unnavigatable. The branch is so heavily silted and full of rubbish to make mooring a boat impossible.
At present it's also not the nicest of situations to moor up in - sandwiched between a large noisy mill, derelict building and unattractive asbestos-roofed blue shed. However on a positive note, it's obvious by the wildlife the canal is clean - there are plenty of ducks, swans and fish galore - so the Bradford canal didn't have too detrimental effect on the Leeds and Liverpool, mind you it has had over 90 years to recover!
Today's canal may have remained in use up to the first lock, and could have provided a useful mooring had it not been for the first obstacle on our path - Bridge 1, carrying the Leeds - Bradford / Skipton railway line.
Fig 1.3. The Junction, showing Bridge 208 to the left and the dead end of the branch at the base of the railway embankment.
Since these original images were taken during the summer of 2004, work has begun to demolish the ugly blue factory buildings adjacent to the junction. In their place a set of canal side apartments will be built. The surroundings for the flats are currently not very attractive, so it looks like this could be the start of a major clean up for the area
Bridge 1
The Leeds - Skipton railway-line is the first obstacle on the route, and appears at the end of the existing branch. Two bridges used to carry the railway over the canal, as Shipley also forms a junction for the railway, taking a line parallel to the canal into Bradford Forster Square Station. In more recent times, the second half of the bridge has been removed as the railway has been reduced to two line operation, although the buttresses by the side of the road (Dock Lane) are still in place. The picture (left) shows the buttresses of the road bridge and railway embankment to the left of the picture, and the stone edging slabs to the right which form the dead end of the short remaining Bradford canal branch.
It is quite possible all the bridge buttresses are still in place and only the bridge itself was removed when the canal was filled in, filling the hole left. It is also quite likely that the bridge was in place long after the canal was filled in, and only removed when it had reached the end of its life.
Fig. 1.6 - The Dead End in close-up (side view) - the railway line is on the left and the stone blocks on the right mark the end of the canal, and Fig. 1.7 - The Railway buttresses from the other side looking towards the junction (which is to the left of the bridge in the distance). Were the canal here today, it would be running parallel to the road on the left hand side, just behind the left hand buttress.
It is not clear why such a large expanse of buttresses remain. A map of
1852 (Fig. 1.8) clearly shows only two railway tracks leading into
Shipley, whilst the buttresses suggest room for around 10 - possibly the
site of siding introduced later, but now removed. The map shows the Leeds
& Liverpool running East - West, with the Bradford canal leading off
south. The railway lines are shown as two tracks. At the bottom left hand
corner just leading out of shot is Shipley Railway Station and the
junction leading to Skipton disappearing off the left of the map, and the
tracks to Bradford Forster Square station off the bottom of the map.
Dock Lane shown in the above-left photograph does not exist
on this map, but is named off the now vanished Dock Mill. to the right of
the canal junction. The mill adjacent to the junction is Junction Mill,
still named as such, and used for a variety of industry. The line shown in
purple is that of Bradford Beck, which joins the River Aire just north of
the map (Fig 1.9.), and used to provide the water source for the canal
close to its terminus. Most of the beck in Bradford is now hidden in
underground tunnels, and only appears as it makes its way along canal road
towards Shipley. For more about Bradford Beck and its tributaries, click
here.
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Canals Bradford Beck Railway Line Briggate / Leeds Road |
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Lock 1
The route is now blocked by a small Cellnet (Now O2) mobile phone mast, and a wide driveway for a building company (Fig. 1.10). It is possible were the access road to remain this could be replaced by a swing bridge, however access to this industrial complex could easily be made off Briggate / Leeds Road, In Fig. 1.10 you can just see a chimney from Junction Mill on the other side of Shipley Junction. The road to the right is still Dock Lane.
The canal's route then runs through the garden of the former Lock Keeper's cottage (Fig. 1.11) to reach the location of the first canal lock. Next to this is also situated the pumping station (Fig. 1.12), built in 1872 following the reopening of the canal. Rather than taking the stinking water from Bradford Beck, the pumping station was provided to draw water from the Leeds & Liverpool to operate the locks. This was the only single lock on the canal, the rest being formed of staircases, as can be found on nearby sections of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
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