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GUIDE TO BLACK BROOK (Barkisland Paper Mills to Elland) NAME OF RIVER: Black Brook. WHERE IS IT? Near Elland, Halifax, West Yorkshire. OS sheet 104 Leeds/ Bradford. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put in Barkisland Paper Mills, Barkisland, Halifax. Take out on the River Calder at Elland. APPROX LENGTH: 4 km. TIME NEEDED: 1-2 hours. ACCESS SITUATION: Access situation good, rarely paddled. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Gauge at Elland? Check the water flow under the mill at Barkisland mills. GRADING: 3+ with weirs & sluices. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: A narrow beck with trees and victorian dams and weirs! Concrete post river wide in west vale. River borne disease! GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A tree infested foray into the industrial becks of West Yorkshire! Don't bring anything bigger than a spud. Fast and not for the faint hearted. Put in 300 m above Barkisland mills, Barkisland but downstream of the paper re-processing plant. * rapidly flowing narrow stream at this point leads to Barkisland mills. * 1.5m weir leads to tunnel under mill! (20m, runnable, check 1st for trees!) * under road bridge. * house on left 3 small weirs could be fun in higher water. * brook leads into mill dam with 2 exit options... 1] Rt 2.5m drop (Picture "sluice right")over sluice into deep water
check 1st * next 500m steady drop through mill complex and open farmland - watch for trees. * 1.75m easy sloped weir watch for trees * narrow section through (picture "ditch") open farmland - watch for trees. * Holwell brook from the Right. * West vale village - short gorge section grade 3-. * watch for big eddy rt before mill. * concrete post across river - portage! Left bank. * Greetland road tunnel run river left. * Greetland cricket club section grade 1-2 * 200m to rugby club weir - 1m - watch for wheely bins!. Pictures of the epic first descent, March 2002. OTHER NOTES: CONTRIBUTED BY: Andy Craven and Paul (Heffy) Heffernan. |
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