additional £25,000 by shares or by mortgage if it was required. The Dearne and Dove canal was authorised on the same day. Construction Construction work started on 27 September 1793, at Heath Common, near the junction with the Aire and Calder Canal. Samual Hartley was the engineer, and John Pinkerton was contracted to build the canal. Construction was difficult, with Pinkerton unexpectedly encountering rock in the cutting at Cold Hiendley, and inflation pushed up the costs. There were disputes between Hartley and Pinkerton, which lasted until long after the canal was opened, and were finally settled in 1812, after a lawsuit. The northern section to Barnsley opened on 8 June 1799, while the Barnsley to Barnby section was not started until late 1798, and did not open until early 1802. The Dearne and Dove Canal was completed in late 1804. The cost of construction was £95,000. The original scheme envisaged a number of tramways to connect to the coal mines, but none of these were built initially. Major engineering features included a five-arched aqueduct where the canal crossed the River Dearne, a long cutting at Cold Hiendley, five locks at Barugh, another twelve at Walton, two at Agbrigg and the final one near Heath. This lock was situated at the end of a cut, which frequently filled with rubbish, and so it was replaced in 1816 by a new lock much closer to the Aire and Calder. The Wintersett reservoir covered an area of when first built, which increased to when its banks were raised by in 1807. In 1803, a pumping station was built at Ryhill, using a Cornish beam engine obtained from Harveys of Hayle, which pumped surplus water from the canal up into the reservoir. Land for a second reservoir at Cold Hiendley was obtained in 1840, and it was built in 1854. It was located between Wintersett Reservoir and the canal, but was at a lower level, and the pumping station was modified so that water could also be pumped from the new reservoir into the canal. The Cold Hiendley reservoir was enlarged to cover in 1874. The beam engine, which was probably second-hand in 1803, gave good service and lasted until the closure of the canal in 1946. Traffic The canal was principally designed to carry coal from collieries in the Barnby region. The Low Moor Company had a colliery at Barnby Furnace, and constructed