(Ad 1)
The Erewash Canal runs though The Erewash Valley with an
overall length of 11.75 miles. Passing from Langley Mill Basin to t the
River Trent at Trent Lock and serving the towns of Long Eaton, Sandiacre,
Stapleford, Trowell, Ilkston, Cossal, Awsworth ,Eastwood terminating at
Lanley mill and the Great Northern Basin.
The most prevalent individual cargo to be carried being
coal from the local mines, but with industry generally growing in the area
there were many other goods too, such as quarried stone, bricks and metal
goods, the canals being particularly useful for large heavy items , as long
as they could pass under the bridges.
During its passage encountering 15 locks and climbing 110
feet.
The original Act giving Royal assent to the project was
passed in 1777, with the surveying done prior to this by John Smith. The
company then raising £21,000 to
construct the canal.
John Varley was appointed as engineer to oversee the
project, which was completed in 1779, though one lock had to be re-built in
1778 due to miss-measurement, a fault for which John Varley was duly held
responsible and he was required to pay the remedial costs to rectify the
situation, which amounted to rebuilding the lock.
The Erewash was an immediate commercial success, like most
canals it suffered considerably from competition from the railways, but
survived better than most supported by the Iron goods from Stanton works and
the general need to transport coal, which was a continuous process that did
not demand the speed of the railways.
By the late 19th
century traffic from the Cromford and Nottingham canals had become
minimal, but the Erewash continued in use to be bought by the Grand Union in
1932 after which it’s fortunes briefly improved continuing to serve Stanton
and carryong bomb shells during the second world war.
The canal was Nationalised in 1947 passing into the hands
of The British Transport Commisssion and from there to the authority of
British Waterways. Officially the last recorded commercial narrow boat using
the canal delivered in 1952, though occasional “0ne off” commercial uses
must have been found for it since then, if only to service the waterway
itself.
1962 saw the British Transport Commission declare the
canal unserviceable above Gallows in to the North of the junction with the
by then disused Nutbrook canal.
Relief came with the creation of a preservation society
“The Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association” in 1968, which
with the help of British Waterways has returned the waterway to a useful
state principally for leisure use and with the general improvement in river
and water quality across the country probably unrecognisably cleaner that in
the days of its industrial past.