The spirit of Boxing Day 2015 across the Calder Valley was shattered by a deluge that turned the familiar, picturesque waterways into a formidable, muddy torrent. The photographs you've shared capture this profound moment of transformation, specifically along the Calder and Hebble Navigation between Chain Bridge and the Canal Wharf in Sowerby Bridge.
This wasn't the gentle, reflective water canal users know. It was a raw display of the River Calder asserting its dominance, overwhelming the engineered boundaries of the navigation and reshaping the landscape entirely.
The Calm Before the Storm’s Surge
Sowerby Bridge is defined by its water. It’s where the Rochdale Canal, the Calder and Hebble Navigation, and the River Calder all converge. Historically, the Wharf was the bustling heart of industry, surrounded by magnificent stone mills and warehouses—many now converted into modern apartments, as seen clearly in the background of these images.
On an ordinary day, the navigation holds a clear, deep line, its water level neatly contained by the towpath walls and grassy banks. Narrowboats sit calmly in their moorings, perfectly mirrored in the still water.
However, the relentless rain leading up to and on Boxing Day stripped away this sense of calm. The river level rose dramatically, and its connection to the adjacent canal system meant the navigation quickly became a repository for the swollen river's volume.
Overspill and Overwhelm
The images show a waterway that has completely burst its banks, though the boundary between river and canal is blurred by the sheer volume of water.
Elevated Water Level: In several shots, the water is seen almost to the top of the retaining walls, turning the low banks and grassy verges into extensions of the water itself. Where normally there would be dry land and walking paths, there is only the swirling, brown current.
Submerged Features: The water has risen to consume parts of the infrastructure. The cobbled and paved areas surrounding the canal basin at the Wharf are underwater, turning the quay into a shallow, muddy lake. The scene by the dramatic old railway bridge (often called the Chain Bridge or a nearby canal bridge) shows the water aggressively lapping at the grass verge, reaching a level far above the towpath.
The Narrowboats: The boats moored along the canal and at Kirkham Turn—the very heart of the Sowerby Bridge boating community—are suddenly sitting much higher. Instead of having a clear line between the boat and the bank, the water is right up to the grassy edge. While they are designed to float, the sight of them surrounded by the flood and the sheer volume of the murky water highlights the danger to these floating homes and leisure craft.
Kirkham Turn's Transformation: The section at Kirkham Turn (where the canal bends past the large, contemporary apartment buildings) is particularly striking. The water stretches far wider than the canal's original width, flooding the low-lying ground by the trees and transforming the view from a controlled waterway into a vast, temporary lake reflecting the grey winter sky.
These photographs aren't just a record of a flood; they are a stark visual reminder of the vulnerability of our built environment when faced with the raw power of nature, and the dramatic reality faced by this resilient, historic Calder Valley town on that unforgettable Boxing Day.
The pictured below were taken with a Polaroid is2132, clicking any of them should open a link in another window to my Colin Green Photography store on Zazzle.
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