Editing River Ancholme (section)

===Operation===
[[File:Harlam Hill Lock - geograph.org.uk - 782634.jpg|thumb|right|The Environment Agency were undertaking renovation work at Harlam Hill lock in 2008.]]
The navigation became an important route for transporting cargo from the rural communities to the towns of [[Beverley]] and [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]] in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]]. William Colton had run a [[packet boat]] between Brigg and Hull since 1793, and in 1823 he began operating a steam packet boat. It left Brigg at 7 am each day, arriving in Hull 10:30. The return journey left Hull at 3 pm, and was timetabled to connect with a coach service from Brigg to [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]. From October 1856 the service was run by the Hull, Ferriby Sluice and Brigg Steam Packet Company, formed by a group of farmers who lived between Brigg and Ferriby Sluice.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |p=297}}

For many years, the tolls on the navigation were leased, and the value of the lease steadily increased, from £402 in the 1780s to £950 in 1828, and had reached £1,857 per year for the period from 1843 to 1845. For the following three years it was £3,020, but it then declined, as railways arrived in the area.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |p=299}} [[Brigg railway station]] opened on 1 November 1848,{{sfn |Butt |1995 |p=44}} and the line from there to [[Gainsborough Central railway station|Gainsborough Central]] followed on 2 April 1849. Tolls reduced, falling to £949 in 1850, and to £700 by the late 1850s. After thirty years, trade revived a little, with the tolls reaching £1,000 in the 1890s. It was further boosted by the development of the [[sugar beet]] industry in the 1930s, with tolls averaging £1,294 in the late 1930s. Bishopbridge, where there was a basin, two corn mills and warehousing, acted as a distribution and collection centre for the farms and villages of that part of Lincolnshire, but by the 1970s commercial traffic had ceased except between Ferriby and Brigg,{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |pp=299–300}} where there were factories along the river bank. All commercial traffic had ceased by the 1980s.

Some development continued, with Snitterby bridge reconstructed in 1872, Hibaldstow in 1889 and Cadney in 1892.{{sfn |Boyes |Russell |1977 |p=296}} In 1977, Ian Horsley formed the Rase-Ancholme Navigation Trust, and in 1978 proposed upgrading of the upper section to Bishopbridge. His grand plans included the construction of three new locks on the River Rase, to link to [[Middle Rasen]] and Market Rasen. By the early 1980s, the scheme had grown to include further links to [[Horncastle, Lincolnshire|Horncastle]] and the [[Foss Dyke]], thus creating a northern Lincolnshire waterways network, but the area was too sparsely populated for such ambitious plans to succeed.{{sfn |Squires |2008 |pp=101, 108}} The Trust was registered in 1979, and ceased to exist in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://opencharities.org/charities/509223 |title=Rase-Ancholme Navigation Trust |publisher=Open Charities |access-date=7 November 2015}}</ref>

By the 1980s, the section above Harlam Hill lock was almost derelict. Rennie's original lock had been reconstructed with a top guillotine gate at some point, and repairs to the lock were attempted in 1993.{{sfn |Anderton |2012 |p=55}} Although they were not successful, the [[Inland Waterways Association]] continued to campaign for the restoration of Harlam Hill lock, raising funds to assist this,{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=146}} and the Environment Agency completed dredging and restoration of the upper section in 2004.{{sfn |Cumberlidge |2009 |p=57}}{{sfn |Fisher |2013 |pp=73–74}} The restoration was funded by a grant of £100,000, the first successful bid for funds by the Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership. The work included the provision of new 48-hour visitor moorings at Bishopbridge, with portage points for canoeists nearby and at Harlam Hill lock.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Boats return to the Ancholme |magazine=Waterways World |publisher=Waterways World |date=September 2004 |issn=0309-1422}}</ref>

The top gate of Harlam Hill lock was subsequently replaced by conventional mitre gates in 2010. Despite this successful restoration, the lock was again closed in 2012 by the Environment Agency on safety grounds, thus preventing access to the first two miles of the waterway. In 2017 there were no plans for its reopening.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Threat to Anglian Waterways|magazine=Waterways|publisher=Inland Waterways Association|date=Summer 2017|issn=0969-0654}}</ref>

The lock at South Ferriby, which allows boats to leave the river and enter the Humber, is a tide lock, with four sets of gates, two for use when the tidal Humber is at a higher level than the river, and two for when it is lower. From the Humber, a vessel can access many other major waterways leading to the larger towns of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, as well as to the [[North Sea]]. Because the river acts as a drainage channel for the Ancholme Level, water levels and flow rates are subject to rapid change, and all navigation can be suspended after heavy rain, when the sluices are opened to prevent flooding.{{sfn |Cumberlidge |2009 |p=56}}