In the flow

But this is a relatively recent development. For most of the last three millennia, the Ouse has worked hard for man, and man has worked hard on the Ouse.

'The working waterway' might be a suitable subtitle for Mike Taylor's new book, The Yorkshire Ouse Navigation. Mr Taylor takes his readers on a pictorial trip along the 57 mile-long river, from Hull up to Ripon, recalling an era when every vessel was packed with cargo, not holidaymakers.

The Ouse has been navigable up to York from time immemorial, Mr Taylor begins; "indeed the Trojans are reputed to have travelled up this water highway to found the city in 980BC".

The Romans founded Eboracum because of its strategic location at the confluence of Ouse and Foss, and that same factor ensured York's continuing importance to the Saxons, Vikings and Normans.

"In medieval days," writes Charles Brunton Knight in his History Of The City Of York, "the river would appear to have been regarded by the citizens of York not only as a highway. It was extensively used as a fishery; it also served as a common sewer, and dumping ground for refuse; and at the same time as a source of water supply for domestic needs."

In 1462, King Edward IV appointed the Lord Mayor and aldermen as Conservators of the Ouse. Among their duties, they were to "punish such as use unlawful nets or other unlawful engines in fishing, or that take fish under size, or unseasonably".

Thirteen years later, York council resolved to crack down on those who fouled the water of the Ouse.

The order ordained that "no tanner of the city, nor none other man or woman of the city, be so hardy as to lie, cast or wash any manner of limed skins or leather or any inmeats or corruption of beasts, above the Pudding Hole, for the corruption of the water of the Ouse, upon the pain of one shilling".

York City Council were responsible for almost all the river for nearly 500 years until British Waterways took it over in 1989.

Another key date in the Ouse biography is 1757. That was when a weir and lock was built at Naburn; until then the river had been tidal at York.

"Navigation on the river has always been heavily dependent on tides, with craft using the four hours before high water to have assistance from the flow when coming upriver," Mr Taylor writes.

"On neap tides, the river between Selby and York has often been short of water, especially in dry summer months and this was one of the factors in the decline of traffic to York by water, as well as the increasing popularity of cargo-carrying by road and rail during the 20th century."

Cruising through his book is a pleasurable experience. All the pictures are interesting, and if a particular one catches the eye you can throw down the anchor, stay awhile and learn a little more about it.

Mooring at Selby, Mr Taylor informs us that this was once the busiest port on the Ouse. It is quite tricky to navigate, too.

"The tide runs fast through the town along the river's narrow channel and this, together with the two swing bridges sited on a curve, and nearby acute bend have caused many problems for craft.

"To have control of a vessel moving with the current, it must be travelling faster than that current and, at Selby, this often means moving 'over the ground' at a faster speed than the captain has ever moved on water before."

Until its closure ten years ago, Cochrane's Shipyard was a proud part of Selby. It opened in 1898, and each launch was a day to remember.

The shipyard generally launched its vessels broadside into the Ouse with an enormous splash. Dignitaries and crowds were kept far enough away to stay dry.

Back to the book. On the leg from Selby to York, we pass through the Cawood swing bridge, built to replace the ferry service in 1872 and are snarled up in a traffic jam of barges at Naburn Lock in the 1930s.

Next is a quick detour along the Foss. The book includes an early photograph of Henry Leetham & Sons Mill, established in 1850. The mill was connected to its 1889-built warehouse on Foss Islands by bridge. "Up until their preferential toll rates were withdrawn in 1924," Mr Taylor notes, "Leethams were responsible for most of York's inward waterway traffic."

Travelling along the Ouse in York, the city's former river-reliant industries are recalled.

Pictures include: Clementhorpe Shipyard below Skeldergate Bridge; York Equitable Industrial Society's wharfside bacon factory, bakery and coal depot; craft bringing sand from Goole to York's glassworks; a cargo of bricks being transferred to a lorry at King's Staith in the 1930s; and motor barge Reklaw heading downriver past the Guildhall with another load of river-dredged sand for its owner Walkers, who had a yard at Layerthorpe on the Foss.

River life then was far from leisurely.

The Yorkshire Navigation by Mike Taylor is published by Tempus, price £12

Updated: 10:51 Monday, March 11, 2002