Goole History 

In 1826 the Aire and Calder canal was cut to link Knottingley to the west with the Yorkshire coalfields and from then on Goole flourished as a port, despite being over forty miles from where the River Ouse flows into the North Sea. The town’s nautical heritage is recalled in the Waterway Museum.

Though the town and port of Goole did not really exist until the 19th century the area was the site of an important historic event; the Battle of Hatfield in 633 Northumbrian King Edwin was killed by Mercian king Penda. The king's head was moved and buried in a small chapel in York, where the famous Minster now stands.

During the 1600s a rather demanding king requested that the River Don be re-routed to flow into the Ouse rather than the Aire, in order to provide better drainage at Hatfield Chase, where he loved to hunt so the engineer, Vermuyden, set about the task and the Dutch Canal was built.