Moving swiftly on...

Back to my Cromford walk with Nicki and moving on apace...

At the end of the Wigwell Aqueduct we crossed the canal by means of the restored swing bridge.

To the left of the photo, you can just see a sluice gate and beyond this, the canal becomes rather more gunky with an even lower water level.

So low, that it didn't even register on the scale!

Backtracking along the other side of the canal, we passed the Wharf shed (which is now an offshoot of Lea Green outdoor centre).

From this point, we were walking along the trackbed of the old railway line. This is where goods were exchanged between boats and wagons; as the artwork depicts.

At first, this line just served the canals but, in 1853, an extension was added to connect it to the main rail network.

From the Wharf shed, it was only a short stroll to here...

...the point at which the Cromford Canal met with the High Peak Railway, and the point at which we must turn our steps away from the water and begin to climb.

A while ago, I posted about the Tissington Trail. At the end of its 17 mile route, the Cromford and High Peak Railway meets with the Tissington Line near Parsley Hay. Both lines were axed under Beeching and have since been opened as trails for walkers, cyclists and horses. The next part of our walk would take us along the first short section of the High Peak trail.

Onward and upward :)

Wigwell

Continuing on past the Leawood Pump House, the Cromford Canal crosses over the river Derwent by means of the Wigwell aqueduct (which is also known as the Leawood Aqueduct and the Derwent Aqueduct). This triple-named aqueduct is an 80 yard span which carries the canal 260 feet above sea level and 30 feet above the much faster flowing waters of the Derwent; from where it looks surprisingly like an ordinary bridge - click here to see.

During construction of the Canal, two aqueducts caused problems. In January 1792, the (now demolished) Amber River aqueduct failed and, in August 1793, the spandrel walls of this aqueduct parted, causing a split along the length of the arch. In his report, William Jessop, the main engineer, blamed the Crich lime being used in the morter, claiming that it was unusually pure and had delayed the setting of the mix. Later engineers are of the opinion that the spandrels were simply too thin to withstand the horizontal forces imposed by the water. To rectify the problem, Jessop had the arches partially demolished and steel bars installed as reinforcement. This he did at his own expense, so it is probably fortunate for him that the finished canal did prove a financial success (and, to his credit that the aqueduct is still in good working condition to this day)! 

PS: Lesson learned this morning ... how to spell aqueduct!

Leawood Pump House

The Leawood Pump House is at the end of the Wigwell Aqueduct which carries the Cromford canal over the River Derwent, 30 feet below.

Although the canal itself opened in 1794, the pumping house was not built until 1849, the reason being that the water to supply the canal had originally been taken from Cromford Sough, which was itself fed with water from the local lead mines. However, the mines dug to deeper levels and the water supply dried up. The Company was then forced into building the pumphouse to take water from the River Derwent.

The pumphouse was capable of shifting an enormous amount of water, with a pump rate of 800 gallons (or 4 tons) each stroke, at a speed of three strokes per minute. This amount was required to maintain the water in the canal at a navigable level. Now, the canal is noticably shallow.

The pumphouse is still in working condition and can be viewed on certain weekends each year, when it is brought up to full steam. Usually, these occasions begin around Easter and go through at one a month, plus bank holidays, until a discovery weekend in late October. Viewings are free.

On pump days, the water taken from the Derwent is eventually returned to the river.

Water fowl

The restored section of the Cromford Canal (around 5 miles between Cromford and Ambergate) is designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. We didn't spot any voles, but, as we walked, we certainly enjoyed watching the water birds; including Moorhen and Mallard chicks, the odd Coot, and a number of Little Grebes (which were entertaining us beautifully with their underwater antics).

This particular Mallard and his mate were both settled comfortably on the wall as we approached. Unfortunately, a passing cyclist was just a little too near for the liking of the female and she took to the water. The male was somewhat braver, allowing us to creep quite close before he followed suit.

We were also curious about the number of air bubble streams rising up out of the thick water weed. Oxygenating plants perhaps? Or was something else lurking down there in the dense greenery? We never did find out.

Bridge one

There is something very distinctive about the shape of a canal bridge, with the towpath running alongside the water. It is easy to imagine the heavy shire horses plodding along here, mile after mile with their creaking leather harnesses and the thick taut rope dragging the barge with its cargo of coal or stone or cotton.

The barges which frequented this section of the Cromford Canal must have been narrow indeed, because the width at this point could not be much above five feet.

This is bridge one, named Lawn Bridge. It is within quarter of a mile of the Cromford Wharf terminus and was once the first of 49 bridges to cross the main line of the canal. Unfortunately, some of the original bridges were either demolished or filled in as the canal fell into disrepair.

The decline of the canal came as a direct result of the expansion of the railway network. The loads being transported by canal decreased until most were only local; the Butterley Tunnel was closed because of subsidence and then in 1944 the canal was abandoned, except for a half mile section at the Langley Mill end. This was finally closed in 1962.

The canal was not completely forgotten though. In the twenty years between 1969 and 1989, the five mile section between Cromford and Ambergate was restored by the Cromford Canal Society. In 1990, this ceased to exist, and the work today is continued by a charitable organisation called Friends of the Cromford Canal, whose aim is to restore the canal to navigable condition and reconnect it to the national inland waterway system. They have their work cut out for them, but I applaud their intentions and would love to see them succeed.

Cromford Wharf

Cromford is a village within the steep sided Derwent Valley, about 19 miles north of Derby and 3 miles south of Matlock. Once at the heart of the industrial revolution and most famous for its links with Sir Richard Arkwright, who established a water powered cotton spinning mill here in 1771, this is now a small rural community of around 1,800 inhabitants, mainly dependent on tourism and the local quarry for much of its economic wellbeing.

A lot of visitors come here to experience the history of the area, one part of which is the Cromford Canal. Running 14.2 miles, from Cromford to the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill, the Cromford Canal was designed by William Jessop and opened in 1794. The main incoming commodity was coal, needed to feed the growing industrialisation of the area, while the outgoing cargoes were limestone for the iron industry, lead from Wirksworth and cotton from the mills. The final cost of the canal was £43,697 (which, in today's money, is equivalent to roughly £3,910,000!), but, once opened, the enterprise proved a financial success.

The buildings pictured are the Wharf warehouses at the Cromford terminus of the canal, opposite Richard Arkwright's Cromford mill. Constructed in 1824 as a storehouse for goods awaiting transportation by boat, the left of the two now houses a wildlife shop and a cafe, which served a very pleasant mug of fairtrade coffee and a rather tasty parsnip, swede and carrot soup. The other is leased by the Arkwright Society and contains two classrooms for educational visits.

While we were there, we also witnessed the canal being used for canoeing, with boats full of excited children disturbing the peace of the ducks! It looked very good fun!