Goole
August 25, 2021
HM 153. Goole "The Port in Green Fields"
I rather liked Goole. It is 50 miles from the sea and the challenge of getting there up the Humber Estuary certainly adds to its fascination for a sailor. The fact that Goole is Anglo Saxon for "open sewer" should not put you off visiting at all!
In 1826 the town did not really exist, but a canal linking it with the West Riding coal fields, suddenly gave Goole the status of being a true "Inland Port". And it still is. In fact it is a surprisingly large port (photo 4) run by Associated British Ports.
The harbour is headed up by a very cheerful Assistant Dock Master, Karl Hollowback into whose enormous lock we slipped with just 15 minutes to spare before it closed for 9 hours before the next high tide! Karl has been ADM since 2011 and told me that the port is booming. Importing many bulk products, it specialises in Biomass for Drax power station, much of it coming from Russia. What is biomass? Basically compressed wood pellets created as a byproduct of processing higher value timber products.
With a canal, railhead and the M62 just 2 miles away - the port is rather like a Richard Scarry illustration - a maze of busyness!
Unique to Goole was a clever method of transferring coal from canal to ship. Small boats, nicknamed Tom Puddings, were linked together in long ‘trains’ and pulled along the canal by a tug. At the docks, hydraulic boat hoists lifted the Tom Puddings and tipped their contents into the holds of ships. Only one of the original boat hoists survives and is now a Grade 2 listed building (photo 7).
Thank you for hosting us Karl, and thank you to Goole Boathouse where we moored on the Aire and Calder canal completely free - always a bonus!
I rather liked Goole. It is 50 miles from the sea and the challenge of getting there up the Humber Estuary certainly adds to its fascination for a sailor. The fact that Goole is Anglo Saxon for "open sewer" should not put you off visiting at all!
In 1826 the town did not really exist, but a canal linking it with the West Riding coal fields, suddenly gave Goole the status of being a true "Inland Port". And it still is. In fact it is a surprisingly large port (photo 4) run by Associated British Ports.
The harbour is headed up by a very cheerful Assistant Dock Master, Karl Hollowback into whose enormous lock we slipped with just 15 minutes to spare before it closed for 9 hours before the next high tide! Karl has been ADM since 2011 and told me that the port is booming. Importing many bulk products, it specialises in Biomass for Drax power station, much of it coming from Russia. What is biomass? Basically compressed wood pellets created as a byproduct of processing higher value timber products.
With a canal, railhead and the M62 just 2 miles away - the port is rather like a Richard Scarry illustration - a maze of busyness!
Unique to Goole was a clever method of transferring coal from canal to ship. Small boats, nicknamed Tom Puddings, were linked together in long ‘trains’ and pulled along the canal by a tug. At the docks, hydraulic boat hoists lifted the Tom Puddings and tipped their contents into the holds of ships. Only one of the original boat hoists survives and is now a Grade 2 listed building (photo 7).
Thank you for hosting us Karl, and thank you to Goole Boathouse where we moored on the Aire and Calder canal completely free - always a bonus!