Concept

Airedale

Summary
Airedale is a geographic area in Yorkshire, England, corresponding to the river valley or dale of the River Aire. The valley stretches from the river's origin in Aire Head Springs, Malham which is in the Yorkshire Dales, down past Skipton on to Keighley, Bingley and Shipley through to Leeds and Castleford and on to join the River Ouse at Airmyn. This valley is of great topographic significance as it provides low-altitude passes through the mid Pennines to the west coast known as the Aire Gap. The upper Aire valley was formed 12,000 years ago by a retreating glacier. A moraine formed in the Cononley area and the lake stretched as far north as Gargrave. Colonisation by man developed later on, especially during the Iron Age. The peoples that occupied the Aire Valley (and much of north eastern England) were called Brigantes by the Romans. Transport improved in the 18th and 19th centuries with the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The railways arrived from the 1830s onwards and during the twentieth century the roads were vastly improved in the valley. Airedale was formerly wholly within the West Riding of Yorkshire, right from Malhamdale, the source of the river, to Airmyn, where the river joins the Ouse. After the Boundary changes of 1974, Airedale starts off in what is now North Yorkshire. Airmyn is now in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The upper valley is characterised by the beautiful landscape of the Yorkshire Dales (Malhamdale is just inside the Yorkshire Dales National Park). The part of the dale from Skipton to Knottingley is heavily industrialised and continues in that vein today despite many mill closures. The East Yorkshire section of the dale is flatter and more agricultural than the upper sections. From Aire Springs the river flows past Skipton and Keighley, through Bingley, Saltaire, Shipley and into Leeds. Up until this point the river is essentially swift flowing and fed by streams and becks. Thereafter, the flow through Castleford and Knottingley out to Airmyn is a meandering course through a broad floodplain.
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