A wide canal that is completely still is lined with thick overhanging greenery.

Calder & Hebble Navigation

The Calder & Hebble Navigation once served a very industrial area, but is now a rural and peaceful route where the local people are known for their friendliness.

At approximately 21 miles long, the Calder & Hebble Navigation is part-canal, part-river. It connects the Yorkshire and Pennine canals, making up part of the Two Roses Ring, and provides easy access for walking or fishing in the Pennines. Canal enthusiasts will appreciate the unusual waterways architecture, including quirky lever-operated locks.

The small towns of Brighouse and Sowerby Bridge are worth a visit, while Wakefield has many attractions including a redeveloped waterfront area, the Hepworth Art Gallery, and canoeing, sailing and windsurfing at Pugneys Country Park.

Boating the Calder & Hebble Navigation

All you need to know about boating the Calder & Hebble Navigation

The history

The Calder & Hebble was designed to extend navigation from the Aire & Calder Navigation at Wakefield to Halifax, and later Sowerby Bridge. By 1770, navigation was possible along the upper reaches of the Calder.

It joins the Huddersfield Broad Canal at Cooper Bridge, and the Rochdale Canal at its Sowerby Bridge terminus. Since the Calder & Hebble's locks are shorter than those on the Rochdale, the warehouses at Sowerby Bridge were used for transhipment - storing cargoes after they were unloaded from one size of boat, ready to go into another. These spectacular warehouses are being restored with the help of a substantial Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

Now that the Rochdale Canal and Huddersfield Narrow Canal have been restored, the Calder & Hebble Navigation is once again an essential part of the waterway routes across the Pennines.