Editing River Don, Yorkshire (section)

===Navigation===
{{main|River Don Navigation}}
Navigation to Sheffield was made possible by the construction of weirs, locks and [[canal]] cuttings to avoid circuitous and unnavigable sections of the Don downstream of Tinsley, and then by a canal from Tinsley to Sheffield. The first serious attempts at improvements were authorised by an [[act of Parliament]], the [[River Dun Navigation Act 1725]] ([[12 Geo. 1]]. c. 38) obtained in 1726 by Sheffield's [[Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire|Company of Cutlers]] to make the river navigable from Holmstile in Doncaster to [[Tinsley, South Yorkshire|Tinsley]], on the edge of Sheffield, and another obtained by the Corporation of Doncaster in 1727 to improve the river below Holmstile, as far as Wilsick House in Barnby Dun. An act of Parliament of 1733, the [[River Dun Navigation Act 1732]] ([[6 Geo. 2]]. c. 9), created "The Company of the Proprietors of the Navigation of the River Don", and authorised further cuts above Rotherham, while a further bill of 1740 sought powers to improve the river from Barnby Dun to Fishlake Ferry, to avoid the shallows at Stainforth and Bramwith. The river was navigable to Rotherham in 1740, and to Tinsley by 1751.<ref>{{harvnb |Willan |1965}}</ref>

Stainforth was connected to the [[River Trent]] by the opening on the [[Stainforth and Keadby Canal]] in 1802 and to the [[Aire and Calder Navigation]] by the [[New Junction Canal]], opened in 1905. There were plans to use compartment boats to carry coal on the navigation, but although some locks were lengthened around 1910, Long Sandall lock was not, and it was not until 1959 that it was extended to {{convert|215|by|22|ft|m}} and trains of 17 [[Tom Pudding|compartment boats]] could work through to Doncaster.<ref>{{harvnb |Hadfield |1973}}</ref> The navigation was the subject of one of the last major attempts in the UK to attract commercial freight to the waterways. In 1983, it was upgraded to the 700-tonne Eurobarge standard by deepening the channels and enlarging the locks as far as Rotherham. The expected rise in freight traffic did not occur, however.<ref>{{harvnb |Nicholson Vol 6 |2006 |p=111}}</ref>

The cuts and navigable river sections, with the Stainforth and Keadby and the New Junction canals constitute the [[Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation]]. Locks on the Bramwith to Rotherham section can accommodate boats which are {{convert|230|by|20|ft|m}}, but above that, boats are restricted to {{convert|56|by|15|ft|m}} by the short Rotherham lock.<ref>{{harvnb |Cumberlidge |2009 |pp=268–270}}</ref>