| AdminHistory | Although there had been some earlier improvements to the River Don, the history of the Navigation can perhaps be said to date from 1733 when the Company of Proprietors of the River Don was established. During the 18th century the Company prospered and gradually extended the navigation. However, by the 1840s it was facing an increasing threat from the new railways. After trying various expedients it decided its best course lay in co-operation, so negotiations were opened with South Yorkshire Railway which were to lead eventually to the waterway coming in 1864 under the control of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire (later the Great Central) Railway. A new initiative to improve water transport led to the formation in 1887 of the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Canal Company which succeeded in having an Act passed in 1889 establishing the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation Company. The Company never really fulfilled the hopes of its founders. It had an important role between 1917 and 1920 when it came under government control and carried considerable war traffic, but the 1920s saw a continuation of its decline which was not really checked in the 1930s in spite of an increase in short distance traffic. The Navigation was nationalised in 1948 and came under the British Waterways Board. In 1961 a new depot was opened at Rotherham and there were further improvements in the 1970s, but commercial traffic to Sheffield ceased in 1971 and Rotherham is now the head of commercial navigation. |
| CustodialHistory | On the abolition of South Yorkshire County Council on 31 March 1986, these records passed from South Yorkshire County Record Office (SYCRO) to the custody of Sheffield Archives. On 1 Apr 2009 the ownership of these items was assigned to Sheffield Archives. |