St Aidan's

St Aidan's is a 400 hectare Country Park between Leeds and Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. The land was formerly an opencast coal mining area that was flooded after the riverbank collapsed. Repairs and remediation required its own act in Parliament to allow the necessary works to go ahead. Mining ceased at St Aidan's in 2002.

The Country Park opened on to the public in May 2013 under the care of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). However, the car park and visitor centre were subsequently closed in July 2013 due to unresolved land issues. The Country Park remains open for those on foot, but the RSPB have dramatically scaled back their presence.

St Aidan's Country Park comprises the former St Aidan's opencast site, Lowther North opencast site and parts of the former Savile Colliery, Methley. In March 1988, there was a slope failure on the banks of the River Aire, resulting in a massive flood of 17,000,000 l (3,700,000 imp gal; 4,500,000 US gal) of water. Mining operations were suspended and remedial works costing £20 million were required to drain the site and re-route the river. The resultant deluge created a lake that was 100 ha (250 acres) in size and 70 m (230 ft) deep.

RAF Chinook helicopters were used to ferry sandbags into the breach, but it did not stop the water cascading in. Not only did the downstream river flow into the site, but the River Calder actually flowed upstream in the River Aire waterbed from Castleford until the water found a natural level.

Government documentation states that it was the Aire and Calder Navigation, whilst others list the Aire as being the source of the water that flooded St Aidan's. The failure came about just south east of Lemonroyd Lock where the two waterways converge. Mining was subsequently completed and then the site was converted into a wetland.

The Pontefract and District Archaeological Society won the Pitt Rivers award for their work on the preservation of the ships and heritage that was found in the abandoned river bed after the water was diverted. The find provided a unique insight into river trade in the seventeenth century onwards, including the hulls of four boats (virtually intact), various pottery and evidence of a medieval weir.

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Wikipedia