Beverley Beck - Today

Today

Beverley Beck was constructed to enable larger vessels to reach the growing town of Beverley. Now it is home to a good number of leisure boats, as well as the historic barge 'Syntan' owned by the Beverley Barge Preservation Society. The barge was built for Richard Hodgson, who owned a tannery in Beverley, and was based on the Beck from 1949 until the 1970s. After a period spent on the River Don Navigation, the remains were bought by the society in 2001, and were restored during a three-year project. Beverley Beck is popular among fishermen holding good sized pike, as well as bream, dace, eel, gudgeon and tench. It is also the home of the Beverley Beck Boating Association most of whose members keep boats on the beck.

The Beck has been improved by a major dredging programme, which lasted for five months and was completed in April 2004. Sampling of the sediments before work began revealed high levels of heavy metals and hydrocarbons, as a result of historic industrial processes, and they therefore had to be taken to a hazardous landfill site when they were removed from the Beck. Land and Water, the contractors responsible for the project, developed a special screening plant that enabled the hazardous waste to be separated from non-hazardous sediments, and this was the first time that such a system had been used on an inland waterways contract. In mid-2005, a multi-million pound scheme to redevelop the Beck and its immediate vicinity began. The final stage, which started in February 2007 and cost £250,000, involved restoration of the lock gates and pumping station, together with the construction of footpaths and cycle routes. The previous set of gates were fitted in 1953.