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Photo of New Junction Canal

New Junction Canal

The last canal of the commercial age, dating from 1905, the New Junction Canal is still used for its original purpose of carrying freight.

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Leisure boaters can enjoy its rural surroundings and interesting bridges and aqueducts. For example, the aqueduct over the River Don has guillotine gates at either end.

It is a wide, straight canal, running for five-and-a-half miles, through flat, sparsely populated countryside, from the Aire & Calder Navigation to the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation.

The history

First planned in 1891, work started five years later, and traffic began in 1905. The canal was used mainly for carrying coal. Freight traffic continues to use the canal.

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