Mile 23 Kildwick Ings 282’

Mile 23 Kildwick Ings 282’

You don’t often get a historic map from Wendy Robinson. This is the final Aire Mile on the walk from Cononley Ings to Silsden. It was a relief to put the backpack down and lean on a locked gate for this view towards my Aire Mile on the river. The ditch is in fact another paleo channel, the remains of the River Aire’s course around a wide wandering meander. It shows on the OS map of 1857 but even then only as a series of ox-bow lakes. The old boundary dividing Yorkshire's West and North Ridings follows the Aire's old meanders. The boundary between North and West Yorkshire follows the River Aire’s modern course. 

I wonder if the meanders were disconnected naturally or if some cheeky digging went on.

The straightening shortened the river and reduced how much water it holds which in turn increased flood risk. The landowner to the south lost access to their fields and the logical County Boundary changed. Oops.