The Calder and Hebble Navigation is a broad inland waterway, with locks and bridge holes that are suitable for 14-foot-wide (4.3 m) boats, in West Yorkshire, England.

Significant improvements were made, including the Salterhebble branch to Halifax, opened in 1828, and ever-longer cuts to bypass river sections.

There were plans to abandon the river sections completely in the 1830s, but these were modified as the needs of mill owners and other riparian landowners were recognised.

Some of the locks were enlarged, but many were not, and having been designed for Yorkshire Keels, they remain among the shortest on the English connected waterways network, at 57 feet (17 m).

[1] The first attempt to obtain an act of Parliament was made in 1740, as a result of a petition by the people of Halifax, Ripponden and Elland.

[1] The second attempt followed a meeting of the Union Club in Halifax on 2 September 1756, which considered how to improve the import of wool and corn to the town.

They invited the civil engineer John Smeaton to make a new survey, which he did in late 1757, and produced a scheme which involved dredging shoals, making 5.7 miles (9.2 km) of cuts, the building of 26 locks, to overcome the rise of 178 feet (54 m) between Wakefield and the Halifax Brook, and the construction of a reservoir at Salterhebble bridge.

[8] Other improvements followed, with a new cut between Shepley Bridge and Mirfield started in December 1775 supervised by William Jessop, and the raising of water levels in 1776 to allow boats to carry additional cargo.

[12] By 1823, as a result of pressure from carriers, boats were allowed to use the navigation at any time during the week, but the company refrained from authorising use on Sundays[13] as they could not "consent to so great a Deviation from established Custom".

4. c. xvii), was obtained on 31 March 1825, which authorised the raising of £50,000[3] for the purpose of constructing a 1.75-mile (2.8 km) branch along the route of the River Hebble, from Salterhebble to the centre of Halifax, terminating near the railway station at Bailey Hall.

[17] In order to avoid disputes with the mill owners along the length of the River Hebble, water supply was obtained by building a tunnel from the basin at Salterhebble to a pit near the top lock.

Nevertheless, the Calder and Hebble Navigation Act 1834, when it was passed in 1834, authorised the construction of major new cuts and the building of new locks, which would be 70 by 18+1⁄2 feet (21.3 by 5.6 m) as far at Brighouse.

A sign clearly signposts the Halifax Arm to the right, and onwards toward Sowerby Bridge, visible to boats emerging from the top lock.

Since the demise of commercial carrying in 1981, the navigation has only been used by leisure boaters, to whom it represents both an attractive cruising ground, passing through beautiful countryside and traditional Yorkshire industrial areas.

This may require expedients such as removing fenders, having shore parties pole the boat into position, and going down locks backwards.

In particular, an inexperienced crew of any boat longer than about 57 ft (17 m) might find it impossible to negotiate the middle lock of the "Salterhebble Three", which is the shortest of all.

[27] A quirk of the Calder and Hebble locks is the handspike, a length of 2-by-4-inch (5 by 10 cm) timber shaped at one end to provide a comfortable two-handed grip.

An amber band indicates that levels are higher than normal, and that extra care is required when proceeding along the river section.

A red band indicates that water levels are sufficiently high that the lock has been closed, and navigation on the river is unsafe.