On the 22nd February, 1819, a huge crowd of 60,000 people from Sheffield turned out to watch, it was reported by a journalist “A spectacle never before witnessed by human beings, a floating conveyance arriving in Sheffield” In fact they were eleven floating conveyances arriving in Sheffield/including the steam ship “Industry”. The all arrived in a convoy at the canal basin. To mark the opening of the Sheffield and Tinsley canal
All the boats were loaded with citizens, a brass band and a cannon which was fired repeatedly. There was also a procession around the town shortly after the opening by the Masons, Odd fellows and the “Sick Clubs” (Trade unions were illegal at the time).They all displayed their banners and a celebration took place in and around all the local hotels and public houses. Sheffield was now connected to the sea via the Trent and Humber. It was first proposed 120 years previous in 1697 and in 1704 by the Doncaster Corporation and then in 1721 by the Cutlers Company. But they were all opposed by the mill operators on the River Don who were worried about possible interference with their source of water power. Also it was opposed by the powerful Dukes of Norfolk who at the time owned most of the mills and the local coal trade.
The idea and benefit of the canal was to give access to the cheap coal of South Yorkshire, and this would have meant competition to the Duke of Norfolk’s own Sheffield Coal Company. So for a hundred years the Dukes managed to oppose the canal by influencing Parliment.They did however concede that the River Don could be made navigable up to the borders of their own manor at Tinsley. So in 1726 work began on the “Dun Navigation” to deepen the river and using short canals to bypass obstructions.
By 1751 Tinsley could be reached by boats and for the next seventy years the port of Sheffield became Tinsley Wharf. All goods had to be unloaded there and then brought to Sheffield by road but this was very unsatisfactory for the people in business.
It wasn’t until the Napoleonic Wars did the Duke agree to support a canal bill in 1815.This was due to the need for swords, bayonets and cannon balls for the army. It was a massive boom for the South Yorkshire Cutlers and iron masters. The Duke did insist however that it interlinked with his collieries at Darnall and the Park. This involved locks and cuttings along the canal.
It took five years for the actual canal to be opened to traffic. But by that time the battle for waterloo had ended (1815) and the need wasn’t so great. The actual opening ceremony took place in 1819 and it was the one seldom event in that grim year. Most of the digging was done by the unemployed workers of the area.
It did pick up again in the 1920,s and did very well but it only lasted around 20 years in its heyday as the railways soon began to take away much of its traffic. It seems that its initial delay of the building in the first place was its own demise. It s income was halved within five years due to the opening of the Sheffield to Rotherham railway in 1838.
The first big railway company (to be known as the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire) arrived in 1845.it took over the control of the Sheffield Canal Company within two years, to control the competition. But also because of the large warehouse at the Canal Wharf. And unfortunately most of the other canal companies suffered the same fate. And for the next 50 years the canal was shadowed under the ever popular railway. Starved by maintenance and investment it mainly carried the work which was unprofitable by the M.S.L.R (Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway).
Then in 1889 things turned for the better when a batch of local industrialists and the Corporation forced a bill through parliament to separate the canal from the railway control. And in 1895 the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Co was set up to run the whole of the waterway stretching from Sheffield to Humber. New warehouses were built at Sheffield and it was promoted. A new Sheffield Ship Canal was planned which would terminate in Attercliffe. But even though these plans prospered. The ultimate ownership was still with the railway.
The canal suffered another blow when World War One broke out. Most of the boats were commandeered for the war effort as troop transport on the canals of flanders.And the canal was nationalised.Unfortunatley most of the boats never returned, no work was carried out on the canal either during the war. And after it was just handed back to the Canal Company with no financial help.
When the first Sheffield Town Plan of 1924 was drawn they drew up a new modernisation of the canal with a new basin at Tinsley opposite the steelworks. But yet again the traffic declined further as no money could be raised or made on the waters. Nationalisation in 1948 also came too late for the Sheffield and Tinsley.
Trade did continue right up to the 1970’s but ran into neglect named as a “remainder waterway”. Although it was widened and used as it is today down by Rotherham as a commercial waterway.
The canal has been modernised but as a recreational rather than commercial, cashing in on its amenities value. The towpath has been improved and forms the spine of a new “Linear Park” which stretches from the Sheffield Basin in the City Centre right through to Tinsley. And also links the Victoria Quays, East End Park and Meadowhall, and should eventually reach Rotherham. The Canal Basin has also been redeveloped and made into offices whilst keeping the original features and history. A new street has also been created complete with cobbled street. Private boats are also moored too.
It’s sad that the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal was not an outstanding business success, although it was vital to the towns industry. It was always delayed to long by vested interest and once built it wasn’t long before it was taken over by its commercial rivals anyway. This proved beneficial to them to slow its development.
Although despite its short comings it remains personnel to Sheffield and its people.Including me having spent my younger years around its banks, overlooking it from my wall
