The Barnsley Canal ran from the Aire and Calder Navigation, east of Wakefield, to Barugh, via Barnsley, Yorkshire. It was 16 miles long, with 20 locks and a junction near Barnsley with the Dearne and Dove Canal.
This broad canal had 15 locks between the River Calder and the main level at Walton. A further 5 locks took the canal up to Barnby Basin. Water needed to be back-pumped up this flight, as the company wasn't allowed to take water from the Dearne at Barnby.
Half a mile east of Barnsley, the canal crossed the River Dearne on a high five arch aqueduct. On the south side of this aqueduct was the junction with the Dearne and Dove Canal, which opened in 1804 and ran to the River Don Navigation at Swinton.
This 200 year old Canal once brought coal to Wakefield from Barnsley. The colliery at Barnby ran into difficulties fairly soon after the canal opened, but the company built a tramroad from Barnby Basin to Silkstone Colliery, which produced good quality coal, helping the canal to be very successful. Barnby Colliery later re-opened and other collieries close to the canal's route through Barnsley, Monk Bretton and Royston added to the prosperity.
As a result of competition from the new railway companies, the Barnsley Canal was leased and later bought by the Aire and Calder Navigation Company, which improved the waterway and enlarged the locks, with trade picking up again for a number of years. In 1893, the section of canal above Barugh Locks was closed as most of the trade here had been lost to the railways.
Although trade on the rest of the canal continued through to World War II, the canal suffered from constant subsidence problems due to mining, with the banks needing to be built up. Subsidence caused a spectacular breach at the southern end of Barnsley Aqueduct in 1911, which closed the canal for eight months. Another huge breach occurred at Littleworth in 1946 which directly led to the canal's closure in 1953. The company had decided that it would be cheaper to compensate the canal's users than to constantly repair the canal. Barnsley Aqueduct was demolished a year later, as it was showing large cracks and a sag due to mining subsidence.
