York Historic Environment Record

NMR Information

Sources
1 Inland waterways of Great Britain : England, Wales and Scotland 1972 compiled by L A Edwards p80-82
2 The Ordnance Survey guide to the waterways, 3 : north 1983 series editor : David Perrott p162

The Inland Waterways Association

The Yorkshire River Derwent starts near Scarborough and flows inland then southwards to join the tidal River Ouse at Barmby-on-the Marsh. The tidal reaches had always been navigable to some extent but under the River Derwent Navigation Act 1721, the river was made navigable from the River Ouse to Malton, a distance of 38 miles, with six locks eventually completed. However, following a period of railway ownership when trade on the Derwent declined dramatically, the Act was revoked by the River Derwent Navigation Act Revocation Order in 1935 and the upper part of the navigation was closed and became derelict, leaving the river without any navigation authority. The section up to Sutton Lock remained tidal and navigable, with the usual right of navigation applicable to tidal waters.

Navigation on the River Derwent from Sutton to Stamford Bridge was restored in 1972 when the Yorkshire Derwent Trust installed new bottom gates at Sutton Lock (also known as Elvington Lock). Ownership of the upper guillotine gate lay with the Yorkshire River Authority and subsequently passed to the Yorkshire Water Authority, the National Rivers Authority and finally to the Environment Agency. Subsequently the Barmby Barrage, complete with a navigation lock, was completed in 1975 at the junction with the River Ouse, to keep out the tide and impound water for abstraction for public supply.

NMR, 2019, NMR data (Digital archive). SYO2214.