The Leven Canal runs for from the River Hull to the village of Leven, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was built for Mrs Charlotta Bethell in 1805, and remained in use until 1935. It is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Location The Leven Canal runs from the River Hull between Arram and Aike, to the south end of the village of Leven. It borders the Leven Carrs in the north, and Eske and Routh Carrs in the south. As it enters Leven it passes Little Leven. Just upstream on the River Hull is the start of the Driffield Navigation. Situated on the River Hull Next place upstream = Aike Beck Next place downstream = Arram Beck History The idea of a canal to Leven was first proposed in 1786. The low-lying area to the west of Leven had been drained by the construction of the Holderness Drain in the 1760s, which ran broadly parallel to the River Hull and entered the Humber Estuary at an outfall downstream of the mouth of the River Hull. The Drainage Commissioners asked the canal engineer William Jessop to look at proposals for a navigation from the outfall to Monk Bridge, a little to the south of Leven. Jessop reported that the extra cost of making the drain navigable for boats drawing , which included two locks and several passing places, would be £5,136, but no further action was taken. A second scheme was proposed by some promoters in September 1791, which would follow a similar alignment, and they got as far as presenting a petition to parliament in March of the following year, but nothing came of it. Interest died down until 1801, when there were two rival proposals for canals to Leven. The first envisioned a canal from below Hull Bridge, running in a north-easterly direction to Skirlaugh bridge, with a branch to Monk bridge, to serve the town. The second was for a much simpler scheme, running eastwards from the River Hull near Aike Beck to Leven, to be privately funded by Mrs Bethell. Mrs Charlotta Bethell, a widow who owned large amounts of land in the East Riding of Yorkshire, commissioned William Jessop to make a survey for the canal in 1799. Jessop had previously been the engineer for the Holderness Drainage scheme, whose Trustees would need to approve the canal for it to be built. He came