Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.

History by Waterway from Dingwall Canal

Dingwall Canal

1815	Started.
1890	Disused by 1890.

Donnington Wood Canal

1765	Being cut from Pave Lane to Donnington Wood by the Lilleshall Partnership of Earl Gower with John and Thomas Gilbert.
1768	Probably completed about 1768.
1796	Completion of the Pitchcroft Branch.
1797	Hugh's Bridge Inclined Plane constructed to connect the Lilleshall branches to the canal. This replaced the previous tunnel & shaft system.
1860	Pitchcroft Branch abandoned after the limestone mine was lost due to flooding.
1882	Canal and Lilleshall Branch Canals closed on Christmas Day.
1904	Abandoned.

River Don

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

1626	Sir Cornelius Vermuyden	He consentrated the waters of the river into a single channel and washland running into the River Aire.
1633	Sir Cornelius Vermuyden	He started work on the Dutch River which, by providing a direct route to the Ouse, was to reduce the waters of the Don that were flowing into the Aire and thus prevent flooding.
1722	William Palmer	Doncaster Corporation commissioned him, with Joshua Mitchel and Joseph Atkinson, to survey the river.
1722	Joseph 1 Atkinson	Doncaster Corporation commissioned him, with Joshua Mitchel and William Palmer, to survey the river.
1722	Joshua Mitchel	Doncaster Corporation commissioned him, with William Palmerl and Joseph Atkinson, to survey the river.
November 1722	William Palmer	He produced a survey showing the whole river up to Sheffield could be made navigable.
1726	Act passed to make the river navigable from Doncaster to Tinsley.
After February 1726	William Palmer	He caught a fever and was dangerously ill while the Bill to make the river navigable to Sheffield was in the commons.
1727	Joseph 1 Atkinson	Appeared as engineer to support a Bill to extend the navigation from Holmstile to Sheffield.
August 1731	John, senior Smith	He was appointed engineer.
1751	Navigation opened.
1751	Joseph 1 Atkinson	Became a lessee of the river, with Joseph Broadbent and Thomas Smith, at £3,500 a year plus 6.25% interest on new capital expenditure that they requested.
1751	Thomas Smith	Became a lessee of the river, with Joseph Broadbent and Joseph Atkinson, at £3,500 a year plus 6.25% interest on new capital expenditure that they requested.
1751	Joseph Broadbent	Became a lessee of the river, with Joseph Atkinson and Thomas Smith, at £3,500 a year plus 6.25% interest on new capital expenditure that they requested.
14 August 1760	James Brindley	Called into to advise the company on changes to the navigation and to estimate the costs of altering three fixed bridges to swing bridges.
1762	John, senior Smith	At this time John Needham was acting as his deputy.
After June 1762	John Needham	Working as deputy to John Smith he constructed swing bridges based on a model that James Brindley supplied.
1763	James Brindley	Was paid 5 guineas for helping William Martin to estimate the cost of a connection from below Thorne to the Trent.
1766	John Thompson	He was appointed engineer under John Smith.
1767	John, senior Smith	It was agreed to allow him 3 shillings and 6 pence for every day he worked in his old age.
August 1772	John Thompson	As company engineer he was asked to make a survey for a canal from the river near Stainforth to the Trent near Althorpe, 1.5 miles below Gainsborough. He was assisted by Thomas Tofield.
October 1772	John Thompson	He reported on the proposal for a canal from the river near Stainforth to the Trent near Althorpe and estimated it would cost £14,614 for a canal with three locks taking 40-ton craft drawing up to 4 foot.
August 1792	Thomas Tolfield	He was asked to assist John Thompson to make a survey for a canal from the river near Stainforth to the Trent near Althorpe, 1.5 miles below Gainsborough.
1795	Benjamin Outram	He surveyed the river.
1795	John Copeland	Became the navigation's engineer following the death of John Thompson.
1797	Robert Whitworth	He made a survey of the river.
1800	William Jessop	He was invted to survey the river, consider the surveys made by Benjamin Outram in 1795 and Robert Whitworth in 1797 and propose improvements.
1801	William Jessop	He reported in February and more fully in the summer proposing new cuts and locks at Doncaster and Conisbrough as well as supporting earlier proposals for a cut with 2 locks at Eastwood.
1801	John Copeland	He made detailed surveys to support Jessop's proposals for improving the river.
Late 1801	William Chapman	Became engineering advisor to the landowners effected by extensions to the navigation and produced counter-proposals.
Late 1803	William Jessop	A parliamentary Bill was introduced for improvements based on his 1801 report.
1807	William Jessop	He was asked whether any of his 1801 proposals needed to be altered but it seems he confirmed his original report.
1817	John Rennie	He was asked by the Don company to advise on river improvements following the destruction of Doncaster mills in a fire.
1817	William Chapman	Was retained to advise Doncaster Corporation on a realignment of the river following a mill being destroyed by fire.
30 December 1818	John Rennie	He was surveying the Dutch River for the Aire & Calder and found the bottom uneven, full of shallows and liable to silt and the banks in a poor state. He also said the river was 'much contracted at the three bridges, and consequently the current is so strong that it requires the upmost attention to pass the barges through them in safety - I was told by an experienced bargeman that vessels drawing 5½ feet water are frequently in ordinary neaps two tides in getting up to Newbridge'.
August 1819	John Rennie	He was asked for an estimate for a canal from Sprotbrough to Wentmouth with a branch to Womersley.
August 1819	George, junior Leather	He and Thackray did a survey of a canal from Sprotbrough to Wentmouth with a branch to Womersley on behalf of John Rennie for the company.
August 1819	Mr Thackray	He and George Leather junior did a survey of a canal from Sprotbrough to Wentmouth with a branch to Womersley on behalf of John Rennie for the company.
1820	Daniel Servant	As company engineer he produced an estimate of £25,302 for a cut from Doncaster to Stainforth.
Late 1820	John Rennie	He produced an estimate of £32,296 for a cut from Doncaster to Stainforth.
September 1823	George, junior Leather	He estimates a cost of £1,084 for a cut from the Sheffield Canal to the Tinsley cut and the is agreed by both companies. He later ponits out that the cut cannot be made until a good supply of water from the Sheffield Canal is assured.
1825	George, junior Leather	He submits two reports suggesting river improvements. The one for Doncaster was agreed with the corporation but the other between Rotherham and Tinsley was dropped due to an objection.
1828	George, junior Leather	He was asked by the company to survey and estimate for a canal from near Stainforth on the Don to join the Goole Canal of the Aire & Calder Navigation.
1835	George, junior Leather	He was consulted about two schemes to improve the lower river. He agreed that a scheme using two miles of the Stainforth & Keadby Canal could work but rejected the idea of locks on the Dutch River.
1835	Charles Bartholomew	As engineer for the river he was asked to prepare plans for inproving the navigation.
1836	William Walker	It was proposed that, if Sir John Rennie was not available, he should check Charles Bartholomew's routes and estimates for the proposed canal from the River Don to Swinefleet.
Early 1840	Charles Bartholomew	Reported to the Don committee on the fast passenger boats used on the Lancaster and Scottish canals,
April 1840	Charles Bartholomew	Appointed manager of the Don Navigation, in addition to his post of engineer.
April 1840	John Copeland	Resigned as engineer after 68 years service with the company, 45 of them as engineer.
1845	Charles Bartholomew	The Don Navigation agreed to amalgamate with the South Yorkshire Coal Railway, which had Bartholomew as its engineer.
Early 1848	Charles Bartholomew	Appointed engineer to the South Yorkshire, Doncaster & Goole Railway in addition to his post of engineer for the River Don.
1855	Charles Bartholomew	Propossed a single railway line on the banks of the Dutch River from Thorne to Newbridge and then alongside the Aire & Calder to Goole.
August 1856	Charles Bartholomew	Was authorised to buy a steam packet for carrying passengers and parcels between Thorne and Keadby. This was to be a feeder to the Trent packets running between Gainsborough and Hull.
1943	The river at Fishlake was diverted.
1962	Early History of Don Navigation by T S Willan, Published by Manchester University Press.
1996	The River Don by Mike Taylor, Published by Pictures of a Bygone Age - book containing about 60 postcards from the first part of the 20th century.

Derby Canal

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

Late 1792	William Jessop	He re-surveyed Benjamin Outrams proposed route and suggested a terminus at Little Eaton instead of Denby and a tramroad from there to the collieries.
8 September 1792	Benjamin Outram	His report was considered by a meeting which proposed a Trent -Swarkeston-Derby-Denby canal with a branch to Sandiacre on the Erewash Canal.
1793	Authorised by an Act of May 1793.
May 1793	Benjamin Outram	He was appointed engineer.
1796	Fully open.
1830	George Stephenson	He was asked by the canal committee to survey a new locomotive line from Smithy Houses to Derby.
1964	Abandoned.
1993	Waterways to Derby by Celia M Swainson, Published by Scarthin Books - Illustrated and well researched history of the Derby Canal.

Durham Canal project

September 1796	Ralph Dodd	He reported to the subscribers of the project that the River Wear should be made navigable with 11 locks from just above Durham down to Picktree, below Chester-le-Street at an estimated cost of £25,338. From ther a 7.25 mile canal would be built up the Team valley to the Tyne, estimated at £29,604. There was also to be a branch just under 3 miles long with 15 locks rising to Beamish and from there a iclined plane and tub boat canal to West Kyo, near Stanley, at a cost of £22,644. All the navigation apart from the tub-boat canal was to take Humber Keels.
January 1797	Robert Whitworth	He reported on Ralph Dodd's line for the canal which he accepted with some alterations. The main changes were to save two locks by dropping the summit level of the Wear-Tyne Canal, to bring the branch in at the summit level so its water could be used for both ends of the canal, and to use larger craft on theWest Kyo inclined plane section.His estimates were for £21,281 on the Wear, £33,497 for the main line, and £24,280 for the branch, giving £79,058 in total.
1825	Barrodall Robert Dodd	He is thought to have been the surveyor called in by a group of Durham people to plan a canal to Sunderland.

Driffield Navigation

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

1765	John Smeaton	About this date he was asked to advise on making the upper river navigable for keels to Driffield. He proposed a 1¼ mile cut with one lock from the river above Wansford to Driffield Beck at the cost of £2,586.
18 December 1766	John Grundy	His report proposes a 10 mile navigation, half river and half canal at an estimated cost of £7,000. This was the basis of the Act passed in the following year.
1767	Authorised by an Act.
17 June 1767	Richard Porter	He was appointed engineer, a post he only held for six weeks.
July 1767	Samuel Allam	Became resident engineer on John Grundy's recommendation.
1770	Completed.
1776	Snakeholme locks were originally single locks, were changed to a staircase.
1796	William Chapman	Produced plans and estimates for improving the navigation.
1798	William Jessop	Acting as engineer for the drainage authorities he reached an agreement with the navigation company over water level maintainance clauses to be included in the Beverley & Barmston Draiage Bill.
Early 1800	William Chapman	He proposes that the Derwent floodwaters be diverted by Muston to the sea and estimates a possible navigation extension at 4,197 pounds.
Mid 1800	William Chapman	A new improvement committee recommend some of his 1796 proposals to the navigation commissioners. These include a towpath from Beverly Beck to Fisholme, the raising of Hull Bridge, a lock to be built on the Hull, river straightening, canal deepening and landing and bridge improvements.
1801	Improvements were authorised by an Act.
Mid 1801	William Chapman	Appointed engineer.
1805	Improvements completed.
1855	Edward Welsh	He was asked to report on how to improve the navigation and found the worst part tp be from Hull bridge to Struncheonhill. He reported that "from the insufficient depths of water in this part. . . the traffic is nearly always interrupted and delayed; and these interruptions are frequently of such duration as to make the passage from Hull to Driffield occupy from four to eight days; whereas" on a spring tide "the passage may be effected in twenty-four hours". He suggested three options: firstly a long cut across the sharp bend near Arram from Eske to a point below the Leven Canal, with a lock on it where the tidal effect was small; secondly a short cut and lock above Eske; and lastly a second lock at Struncheonhill and dredging below it, this being much the most expensive option because of the dredging required.

Droitwich Junction Canal

1852	Authorised by an Act.
1853	Opened.

Droitwich Canal

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

1767	James Brindley	Surveyed the route for the canal and is said to have produced alternative estimates for a barge and a narrow canal.
1768	Authorised by an Act.
March 1768	John Priddey	He was appointed engineer with a salary of £190 a year.
4 March 1768	James Brindley	Appointed Inspector of Works.
1771	Opened.
1939	Abandoned.
1973	Since 1973 the Droitwich Canal Trust Ltd. have been trying to restore the canal which they now own.

River Derwent (Derbyshire)

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

April 1638	Sir Cornelius Vermuyden	Charles I wrote to Derby corporation asking for him to be accomodated as "with his partners, has undertaken a work very acceptable to the King about the lead works at Wirksworth, and to make the river of Derwent to be navigable till it fall into the Trent".
1702	George Sorocold	He produced plans for the Bill proposing four new cuts and nine locks with a fall of 50 feet.

River Derwent

See Priestley's Navigable Rivers and Canals for more information.

1695	George Sorocold	He produced plans for making the river navigable on which two unsuccessful Bills were promoted in 1695 and 1698.
1699	George Sorocold	He surveyed the river again for a Bill introduced in 1700, which failed, but an Act was passed in 1701.
1701	Promoted by an Act.
1720	Joshua Mitchel	Worked on a survey for making the river navigable and between 1723 and 1724 leased the tolls jointly with Mark Andrew
1720	Mark Andrew	Worked on making the river navigable and between 1723 and 1724 leased the tolls jointly with Joshua Mitchel
1772	Isaac Milbourn	He and Thomas Tofield were employed by local landowners to advise on improving the river for drainage. They also considered seeking new powers for completing the original proposed navigation from Malton to Scarborough.
1772	Thomas Tolfield	He and Isaac Milbourn were employed by local landowners to advise on improving the river for drainage. They also considered seeking new powers for completing the original proposed navigation from Malton to Scarborough.
1794	Henry Eastburn	Reported that a canal from the Derwent to Whitby or Scarborough would not be difficult to build.
December 1799	William Chapman	Asked to report on the drainage and navigation proposals with the assistance of Isaac Milbourn.
December 1799	Isaac Milbourn	He was asked to assist William Chapman to report on drainage proposals for the river.
1804	Ralph Burton	Produced a plan of the river from the Rye junction to Yedingham Bridge "for an Intended Navigation".
Late 1809	George, senior Leather	He is asked by S H Copperthwaite, agent of the Earl Fitzwilliam, to prepare plans to make the river navigable.
June 1810	George, junior Leather	He completes the plans from his survey of the river which he did under his father's direction.
Summer 1810	George, senior Leather	He proposed a navigation with two locks a "full sized" one at New Malto and a small one at Old Malton taking craft of 26 feet long with a 11 foot 6 inches beam.
October 1814	George, junior Leather	With reference to William Chapmans report on the drainage of the upper Derwent he said that above Yedingham the river was navigable to Foulbridge, and that two small locks would give enugh water for it up to its junction with the river Hertford.
1837	Thomas Rhodes	He surveyed the river and recommended improvements that were carried out.
1935	Statutory rights of navigation above Sutton Lock were revoked by an Act.
1974	Yorkshire's River Derwent by J Ogden, Published by Terrence Dalton Ltd.

Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.