River Aire

River Aire
River
The River Aire at Gargrave, North Yorkshire
Country	England
Counties	North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire
Tributaries
- right	River Worth, River Calder
City	Leeds
Source
- location	Malham Tarn, North Yorkshire
- elevation	377 m (1,237 ft)
Mouth	River Ouse
- location	Airmyn, East Riding of Yorkshire
- elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Length	114 km (71 mi)
Basin	1,004 km2 (388 sq mi)
Discharge	for River Ouse
- average	35.72 m3/s (1,261 cu ft/s)

The River Aire is a major river in Yorkshire, England of length 71 miles (114 km). Part of the river is canalised and is known as the Aire and Calder Navigation. The Aire is one of England's major rivers and flows through one of the largest populated areas in the UK, which is West Yorkshire.

It rises at Malham Tarn flowing underground to Malham Cove (Aire Head), near Malham, in North Yorkshire and flows through Gargrave and Skipton. After Cononley, the river enters West Yorkshire where it passes through the former industrial areas of Keighley, Bingley, Saltaire, Shipley, it then passes through Leeds, on to the villages of Swillington and Woodlesford. At Castleford is the confluence of the Aire and Calder; just downstream of the confluence was the ford where the ancient British road, utilized and strengthened by the Romans, crossed on its journey north to York. The river re-enters North Yorkshire near Knottingley and in its lower reaches forms part of the boundary between North Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire.

The River Aire empties into the River Ouse at Airmyn, 'myn' being an old English word for 'river mouth'. The name possibly derived from Brythonic *Isara, meaning "strong river". The Aire could have been the winwœd or winwæd written about in Old English, from the Old English elements winnan or win ("strife", "fight") and wæd ("shallow water", "ford"), however others have proposed that it is actually the Went (also called the "wynt" in Old English) or the Cock Beck (see Battle of the Winwaed) whereas others have claimed that it is actually the name of the battle and not the body of water itself.^[1][2].

Settlements

from source

• Malham
• Hanlith
• Airton
• Bell Busk
• Gargrave
• Skipton
• Low Bradley
• Kildwick
• Silsden
• Steeton
• Utley
• Riddlesden
• Crossflatts
• Bingley
• Saltaire
• Shipley
• Charlestown
• Apperley Bridge
• Horsforth
• Kirkstall
• Holbeck

River Aire at Leeds

• Leeds city centre
• Knowsthorpe
• Allerton Bywater
• Castleford
• Brotherton
• Ferrybridge
• Knottingley
• Beal
• West Haddlesey
• Chapel Haddlesey
• Temple Hirst
• Hensall
• Gowdall
• Snaith
• Rawcliffe
• Newland
• Airmyn

(Joins River Ouse)

South of Malham	Bingley	Kirkstall Abbey	The 2008 bridge over the River Aire at Castleford
Castleford	Leeds city centre	Clarence Dock, Leeds	Pollard Bridge, Newlay near Leeds

See also

• Rivers of the United Kingdom

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: River Aire

Coordinates: 53°43′N 0°53′W / 53.717°N 0.883°W / 53.717; -0.883