The Cromford Canal ran 23.3 kilometres from Cromford to the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill. The 10.5 kilometres of canal between Cromford and Ambergate which lie within the nominated World Heritage Site was constructed in the early 1790s under the direction of William Jessop assisted by Benjamin Outram. The canal was intended as part of a through route to Manchester but it was not until the Cromford and High Peak Railway was constructed between 1824 and 1830 that this vision became a reality.
The Cromford Canal promoters sought to unlock Derbyshire’s immense mineral wealth, especially its limestone. Apart from the obvious advantages to Sir Richard Arkwright for his mills, he too saw the opportunity presented by exporting lime and sought a monopoly in this trade on the canal in return for which he was prepared to lend his name to the promoters of the canal project. Only when he was finally persuaded that such a monopoly would be against the law did he agree to give the canal scheme his energetic attention. He also agreed to sell most of his garden to the Canal Company to construct the Cromford Wharf. With his assistance the Canal Bill was steered through Parliament in the face of considerable opposition.
The canal had a profound influence on the economic growth of central Derbyshire achieving a substantial outreach by means of its many wharves and linking tramroads. Thus Belper, apparently bypassed by the canal, derived huge economic benefits from it.
The canal terminus abuts Mill Lane opposite Cromford Mill. Cromford Wharf incorporates two warehouses, an office or counting house and two cottages. Once enclosed entirely by a stone perimeter wall, the wharf was home to a range of other facilities; these buildings have not survived.
The warehouse was built soon after the canal opened
for
Nathaniel Wheatcroft, who was to become the principal
canal carrier.
It is built of coursed, squared and dressed sand-stone
with
two storeys and half basement and is roofed in
graduated
Welsh slate. Th
e elevation visible from Willersley
Castle has
an embattled parapet and this feature has led to
the
structure being known locally as ‘the gothic
warehouse’. It
was used to receive goods brought in by the canal
boats and
awaiting onward transport. The lean-to shed over
the canal
was added in 1814. The building has been restored
by the
Arkwright Society.
A
two-storey, three-bay, warehouse in coursed dressed
sandstone, with a slate-hung cantilevered projection
overhanging the feeder arm of the canal. It was
built soon
after the feeder arm was added. It was used to
store goods
awaiting transport by boat which, thanks to the
overhanging
section of the building, could be loaded under
cover. The
warehouse was equipped with a crane, now replaced
by a
modern replica. The building has been out of
use for many
years and is awaiting restoration
by the Arkwright Society.
A two-storey polygonal structure in coursed dressed sandstone with a Welsh slate roof. Its unusual shape is explained by its proximity to the culvert which brought water to the canal from the Cromford Mill basin and by the limited space between this and the canal wharf gates, of which the two massive stone posts have survived.
The building was restored by the Arkwright Society, which uses it as an office.
Two canal cottages built for the Cromford Canal
Company
soon after the canal opened and later extended
to
accommodate company administrative staff. One
of the
cottages has been carefully restored and has
regained its
original appearance.
South of Cromford Wharf the coursed stone accommodation
bridge with a string course and parapet, believed
to have
been built c.1792. There are others of similar
design along
the line of the canal. A notable feature of this
bridge is the
evidence in the stonework of wear caused by the
canal boat
tow ropes.
The Cromford and High Peak Railway which opened
in 1830,
completed the link to the Manchester area the canal
promoters had intended to provide. It crossed the
high
ground between Cromford and Whaley Bridge by means
of a
series of inclines and stationary steam engines.
These were
linked by level sections on which the wagons were
hauled
by horses. The junction was created to provide
a link for
trans-shipping goods between the Cromford and High
Peak
Railway and the canal. A later link connected the
junction
to the railway between Ambergate and Matlock.
On the west side of the canal there are several
buildings
which served the needs of the railway and most
notably the
railway workshops. This group of buildings was
built, re-built
and enlarged between c.1830 and c.1865. In the
first
instance the workshop served the needs of the inclined
plane
railway and horse-drawn wagons. Later when steam
locomotives were introduced to the line the workshop’s
functions were extended. The
buildings are of coursed gritstone and brick. Inside
the building there are surviving
examples of the original fish-bellied cast iron
rails used on the Cromford and High Peak Railway.
The workshop houses a
small museum which is open to the public during
the summer months.
The warehouse which stands between the canal
and the
railway was built c.1850 to replace an earlier
canal building.
It is now used as a residential study centre.
It is built of
coursed stone and has a covered canopy under
which
railway goods would have been loaded to protect
them from
the weather. It also has a load height gauge
for the railway.
Adjacent to the warehouse is a larger open shed
supported
by cast iron columns. Adjacent on the north side
are the
remains of the base of a crane.
To the south is a building of c.1850 in coursed stone which was used as railway offices. Further south on the canal is a paved spillway over which surplus water was discharged from the canal into the river.
The Leawood pumphouse, engine and chimney,
are situated south of High
Peak Junction and on the east side of the canal.
These structures were built in 1849 to house a steam pumping engine to increase the supply of water available to the canal. The pedimented pumphouse building is of ashlar gritstone with chamfered quoins. It has a square-headed doorway with pilasters and quoined round-arch windows. The adjacent boiler house has arched doorways. The engine was constructed at the Milton Ironworks by Graham & Co. It is a Boulton and Watt single action beam engine which is maintained in operational condition and is put in steam from time to time.
The 29 metres high engine chimney is built of coursed stone and has a cast iron parapet.
The Wigwell Aqueduct over the river Derwent was
first
constructed in the early 1790s. By September 1793
serious
cracks had appeared. William Jessop, the engineer
who had
supervised the building work, accepted liability
and offered
to re-build it at his own expense. He claimed the
fault lay
with the Crich lime he had used as mortar which
did not set.
Iron cramps were used to give the structure greater
stability,
and following this remedial action there has been
no further
serious trouble. The structure is 182.9 metres
long, 9.1
metres high and supported by three arches. The
one which
spans the river is nearly 73 metres in length.
There are two
date stones above this central arch.
At the southern end of the Wigwell Aqueduct the
junction
with the Leawood Arm of the canal may still be
identified.
This branch, which was built by Peter Nightingale
in 1802,
extended the canal to a wharf at Lea Bridge. It
serviced the
Nightingale leadworks and mills. When the closure
of the
canal was proposed in 1910 by the canal’s
then owners, the
Midland Railway, the businesses at Lea Bridge were
among
the principal objectors, the canal having become
an essential
link for the import of coal and other raw materials.
Their
protest was unsuccessful and parliamentary approval
was
given for the canal’s closure.
At the junction of the Leawood Branch with the
canal is a
lengthman’s cottage, now without a roof.
It is proposed that
this structure should be conserved as a picturesque
ruin.
The aqueduct which carries the canal over the railway
was
constructed c.1850 when the line was built. It
has a cast
iron balustrade on the south side, the upper rail
of which is
a piece of railway rail.
The canal tunnel is about 73 metres in length and
was
built of coursed stone. It has coursed stone ramparts
and is barrel- vaulted. A raised towpath runs through
its entire length.
It was the completion of the Meerbrook Sough which, being at a lower level than the
Cromford Sough, drained most of its water and so
put the Cromford Mills out of business,
at least for water-powered uses. The sough tunnel
was constructed over a long period
from 1772 to c.1841. The portal may well have been
constructed in 1772 as the
dated keystone suggests. It bears the legend “FH1772” which
refers to Francis
Hurt who was the sough proprietor at that time.
