New Junction Canal

New Junction Canal
Guillotine gates protect the canal from the River Don
Specifications
Maximum boat length	215 ft 0 in (65.53 m)
Maximum boat beam	22 ft 6 in (6.86 m)
Locks	1
Status	Operational
Navigation authority	Canal and River Trust
History
Original owner	Aire and Calder Navigation, Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Co
Date of act	1891
Date of first use	1905
Geography
Start point	River Don
End point	Aire and Calder
Connects to	Aire and Calder Navigation, River Don Navigation

[ ] New Junction Canal
0.0m Aire and Calder Navigation 0.2m Went aqueduct 1.0m Sykehouse lift bridge 1.5m Kirk Lane lift bridge 1.8m Sykehouse swing bridge 1.8m Sykehouse Lock 2.4m Smallhedge swing bridge 3.5m Kirkhouse Green lift bridge 4.2m Top Lane lift bridge 4.6m Low Lane swing bridge 5.1m River Don aqueduct 5.5m Stainforth and Keadby Canal Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation

The New Junction Canal is a canal in South Yorkshire, England. It is part of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation (S&SYN), although it was jointly funded by the Aire and Calder Navigation, and was opened in 1905. It links the River Don Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal with the Aire and Calder Navigation (Knottingley Canal). It is completely straight, and was the last canal built in England for commercial purposes.

The canal has one lock, which was sized to allow the compartment boats of the Aire and Calder to use it, but the owning company failed to raise enough money to upgrade the River Don Navigation beyond, and Long Sandall lock prevented working of such boats through to Doncaster until it was rebuilt in 1959. There is still some commercial traffic on the canal, but most use is now by leisure boaters. One notable feature is the aqueduct over the River Don which is protected by large guillotine gates, which can be lowered when the Don is in spate, to prevent the surrounding countryside from being flooded.

The New Junction Canal was conceived at a time when there was dissatisfaction with the state of the waterways in Sheffield and Doncaster, which were then under the ownership of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. Steam powered boats were still prohibited from using the waterways in 1888, even though they had been in use on the neighbouring Aire and Calder Navigation for over 50 years, and the railway company had set rates for using the canal considerably higher than those for using the railway. The President of the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce invited the engineer Charles Hawksley and B. P. Broomhead, an influential Sheffield solicitor, to a meeting of the Chamber on 16 August 1888, at which he outlined the situation. A committee was appointed, which met on 20 August, and decided that a new independent canal was needed to connect Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster to the sea, to maintain the profitability of the local coalfields.