Colin Green Photography: Cooper Bridge

Tuesday, 27 January 2026

From Cooper Bridge to Brighouse on the Calder & Hebble

The Calder & Hebble Navigation isn't just a stretch of water; it's a living timeline, carving its way through the heart of West Yorkshire's industrial landscape. My recent walk, capturing the route from Cooper Bridge towards Brighouse, offered a profound look at how centuries of industry and modern engineering coexist with the quiet, reflective beauty of a working waterway.

Cooper Bridge: Where Industry Meets the River

The walk begins near Cooper Bridge, a historically important junction on the old road network. Here, the immediate scenery is dominated by the ghosts of industry and the hard lines of modern infrastructure.

A wide landscape shot of a calm canal. On the right bank, a large, multi-story brick industrial mill stands with a very tall, slender chimney featuring a communications array at the top. The mill and chimney are perfectly reflected in the still water. Bare winter trees frame the left side, with sunlight filtering through the branches.

The Mill and the Chimney: One of the most striking initial views is the reflection of the large Victorian mill building and its towering chimney in the water . This classic image encapsulates the Industrial Revolution's legacy in the Calder Valley—textiles, coal, and transport, all powered by the river and the canal. The water, calm and dark, acts as a perfect mirror, doubling the building's impressive scale.

A view looking down the length of the canal. The sun is high, creating a bright haze and shimmering reflections on the water's surface. A fallen tree branch reaches into the water from the left. On the right, green industrial warehouses and a tall chimney sit behind a fence along the canal bank. Rolling green hills are visible in the far distance.

The Sunlit Cut: Moving away from the heavier industrial backdrop, the canal narrows and the banks become greener, though remnants of manufacturing are still visible. The sunlight catches the water, giving a brief glimpse of the navigation’s serene side.

The Overheads: Bridging Eras of Transport

As you progress through Kirklees, the landscape dramatically changes, showcasing the monumental clash between 18th-century canal engineering and 20th-century road building.

Kirklees Railway Bridge: A Relic of Rail

A low-angle shot showing a heavy, rusted iron lattice railway bridge spanning the canal. Below the iron structure, the original stone arch bridge is visible. A moss-covered wooden fence runs along a muddy towpath in the foreground on the right. Bare tree branches crisscross the frame in front of the massive stone and metal structures.

The Kirklees Railway Bridge is a magnificent, brooding structure. Its heavy wrought-iron lattice girders, now deeply rusted and framed by winter-bare branches, speak of the great age of Victorian railway expansion. The massive, weathered stone piers of the older arches below suggest the scale of the challenge faced when spanning both the river and the navigation. This bridge is a powerful reminder that once, rail was the dominant competitor to the canal for transporting goods across the Pennines.

The M62 Viaduct: The Modern Giant

Further on, the landscape is utterly dwarfed by the immense presence of Bridge 20, carrying the M62 Motorway across the valley.

A wide-angle shot from the water's edge showing the high concrete viaduct of the M62 motorway cutting across the sky. The bridge is supported by numerous tall, slender concrete pillars that are reflected in the calm, dark water of the canal. Bare winter trees line the banks under a pale, overcast sky.

A perspective shot taken from a stone-lined sloping embankment covered in graffiti. The massive steel and concrete underside of the motorway bridge curves away into the distance. A grid of concrete pillars marches across the canal and into the wooded valley beyond.

A symmetrical view looking through the forest of concrete pillars supporting the M62. The canal flows horizontally through the center of the frame, reflecting the pillars. The base of the columns features colorful graffiti, contrasting with the industrial grey steel beams visible directly overhead.

A view along the muddy riverbank showing the massive concrete supports of the M62 viaduct on the left. The calm water of the canal stretches toward the horizon, reflecting the sky and a faint vapor trail from a plane. Dense woodland fills the background.

Engineering Scale: The sheer size of the concrete columns, standing like a legion of modern giants, is breath taking. Underneath the viaduct, the view is starkly different—an echoing, shadowed space that highlights the difference between human-scale canal transport and high-speed vehicular transit. The contrast is palpable: the tranquillity of the water below the thrum of thousands of cars above.

The Workings of the Waterway: Lock 14

A high-angle view framed by bare winter trees looking down at a traditional canal lock with wooden gates. The water is calm, reflecting the blue sky, and a grassy bank with a small set of wooden stairs leads down to the water’s edge. In the background, rolling wooded hills sit under a clear sky.

One of the most essential features of any navigation is its locks, and your photo of Lock 14, Kirklees Low Lock, captures the functional beauty of canal architecture. Framed by the surrounding trees and green fields, the lock is a hub of activity (or potential activity). The white-painted gates and machinery stand out against the greenery, ready to lift or lower boats. It's here that you truly appreciate the system engineered by figures like John Smeaton to make the River Calder navigable for long-distance trade.

Approaching Brighouse

The final leg of the journey takes us into the immediate vicinity of Brighouse, where the canal again meets the modern industrial fringe.

A wide shot of a weathered concrete bowstring arch bridge (Bridge 19, Blakeborough) spanning a dark canal. A grassy towpath runs along the right side of the water, bordered by tall evergreen trees. Industrial buildings and a distant electricity pylon are visible under a cloudy sky.

Blakeborough Bridge: Bridge 19, the Blakeborough Bridge, is a distinctive concrete arch structure, likely replacing an older crossing. Its smooth, utilitarian lines stand in sharp contrast to the rusty rail bridge encountered earlier.

A perspective view looking down a straight stretch of the Calder & Hebble Navigation. To the left is a high wall of dense green conifers; to the right, a modern grey industrial warehouse. The still water creates a mirror-like reflection of the overcast, moody sky.

A view from a bridge looking down a canal lined with a mix of brick industrial buildings and grassy embankments. An electricity pylon towers in the distance over the flat horizon, and bare trees are reflected clearly in the dark, still water.

A Modern Mix: The final views are a blend of the wide, straight canal cut, lined by contemporary industrial units and tall power line pylons. The calm water reflecting the vast sky and the flanking hedgerows is sandwiched between the necessities of twenty-first-century life—warehouses and electricity transmission.

This stretch of the Calder & Hebble is a superb example of a working canal that has adapted and endured. It has moved from being the lifeblood of the Industrial Revolution to a recreational and ecological corridor, all while serving as a silent museum of transport history.

The pictures were taken with a Nikon d3300 on the 23rd January 2016, clicking any of them should open a link in another window to my Colin Green Photography store on Zazzle.

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Sunday, 4 June 2023

A Forgotten Farmhouse: A Walk Along the Calder and Hebble Navigation

Sometimes the best discoveries are made by accident. While walking from Cooper Bridge to Brighouse, tracing a route along the scenic Calder and Hebble Navigation, I stumbled upon a building that time seems to have left behind. Tucked away on a track that crosses the railway, I found this abandoned farmhouse, a poignant and beautiful relic of a forgotten past.

With the gates clearly locked, I didn't want to trespass. Instead, I stood on the track and took these pictures from a distance, capturing the building's quiet dignity. The stone walls and weathered roof told a story of a life that once thrived here, now replaced by an eerie silence. The building stands in a state of decay, with broken windows and overgrown foliage hinting at the years of neglect.

Despite its condition, the farmhouse retains a powerful, melancholic beauty. It's a reminder of a time before the railway and the canal dominated the landscape, when this place was a home, a farm, a living part of the countryside. This unexpected find was a highlight of my walk, a chance encounter with a piece of local history that invites you to wonder about the people who once lived and worked here.

These photos, taken in May 2023, capture the essence of this solitary building, a peaceful and compelling monument to the passage of time.

Clicking any of the images below should open a link in another window to my Colin Green Photography store on Zazzle.