Huddersfield Broad Canal
engineered by Benjamin Outram, 3.75 miles long with 9 locks

History and General Knowledge of the Huddersfield Broad Canal

The Huddersfield Canal is made up of two sections: Huddersfield Broad Canal and Huddersfield Narrow Canal. As the names suggest, one is narrow with a maximum beam of 6 feet 10 inches whilst the other is widebeam (13 feet 9 in).

Huddersfield Broad Canal also known as Sir John Ramsden's Canal was completed in 1776 and cost, at the time, £11,975. Water is fed from both the River Colne and from 1811, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

Built, owned and run by the Ramsden family who, at the time, owned pretty much all of Huddersfield. The Ramsden's continued to own the canal right up to January 1945 when it was purchased by Calder and Hebble Canal company for a mere £4000. The price included a small section of narrow canal. Only a small section was used by Calder and Hebble Canal company to transport coal to a power station. The rest fell into disrepair for many years.

Later the canal was used more and more for leisure purposes and since the reopening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal in 2001, Huddersfield Broad Canal is one of three trans-Pennine canals.  Up until then it had been a dead-end canal for many years.

History of the Huddersfield Broad Canal

An historic waterway located in West Yorkshire, England. It was constructed in the late 18th century to transport goods such as coal, textiles, and iron to the growing industrial centres of Huddersfield and the wider region. The canal played a key role in the industrial revolution, connecting the town with other major commercial centres and providing a reliable transport route for raw materials and finished products.

The idea for the Huddersfield Broad Canal was first proposed in the mid-1700's, but it was not until the 1770's that construction began. The canal was designed by John Smeaton, a prominent civil engineer who also worked on the Eddystone Lighthouse and other important projects of the time. The initial stretch of the canal ran from the Calder and Hebble Navigation near Cooper Bridge to Huddersfield, a distance of around 3.5 miles.

The construction of the canal was a major engineering feat for its time, involving the excavation of a number of tunnels, aqueducts, and locks. The longest tunnel, at Standedge, was over three miles in length and took more than a decade to complete. Despite the challenges, the canal was officially opened in 1798, with the arrival of the first boat carrying coal from the local collieries.

The Huddersfield Broad Canal quickly became an important transport route for goods, linking Huddersfield with other industrial centres such as Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds. The canal's success led to the construction of several branches, including the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Sir John Ramsden Canal. By the mid-19th century, the Huddersfield Canal Company was one of the largest and most successful canal companies in the country, with a fleet of over 100 boats.

However, with the advent of the railway in the mid-19th century, the importance of the Huddersfield Broad Canal began to decline. Many of the goods that had previously been transported by canal were now being carried by train, and the canal struggled to compete. In the early 20th century, traffic on the canal had dwindled to a fraction of its former levels, and it was eventually closed to commercial traffic in 1944.

Since then, the Huddersfield Broad Canal has been restored and reopened for recreational use. Today, it is a popular destination for boaters, walkers, and cyclists, offering a glimpse into the region's industrial past and the important role that canals played in the development of the modern world.