Section title

Canals by Andrew Nicholson

Structual

Standing buildings

'Pickford's Depository', Worksop.
'Pickford's Depository' over the Chesterfield Canal in Worksop.

The Chesterfield Canal at Clayworth.
The Chesterfield Canal at Clayworth.

The Chesterfield Canal

The Chesterfield Canal originally ran 46 miles (74 km) from the River Trent at West Stockwith, Nottinghamshire to Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Currently 31.6 miles (50.9 km) of the canal is navigable: the 26 mile(41.8 km) stretch of canal between West Stockwith and the closed Norwood Tunnel and a recently opened length of canal between Chesterfield and Staveley. An ambitious plan has been developed to connect the two sections.

Other related structures and buildings include:

For further information see:

Lock at Langley Mill Basin.
Lock originally built for the Cromford Canal at Langley Mill Basin.

The Cromford Canal

The canal was originally 14½ miles (23.3 km) in length and ran from Cromford in Derbyshire to Langley Mill. Very little of the route in Nottinghamshire (between Jacksdale and Langley Mill canal basin) survives, the result of destructive open cast coal-mining in the 1960s and 1970s. However, an 800 yard (732 meters) section of the canal at Langley Mill has been restored in recent years and Langley Bridge Lock 14 (located at the southern entrance to Langley Mill basin) is in use.

For further information see:

The Grantham Canal

The canal runs for 33 miles (53 km) from Grantham, falling through 18 locks to West Bridgford where it joins the River Trent. Most of the canal is still in water and work is ongoing to restore it to full navigation.
One of the few buildings that can definitely be associated with the canal is a brick and pantile-roofed warehouse at Hickling basin (at OS grid reference SK 691294).

For further information see:

The Erewash Canal

The full length of the 12-mile (19.3 km) canal is still operational, from Langley Mill basin to Trent Lock. Surviving structures in Nottinghamshire:

For further information see:

Former Fellows, Morton & Clayton warehouse, small loading cranes and basin on Canal Street, Nottingham.
Former Fellows, Morton & Clayton warehouse, small loading cranes and basin on Canal Street, Nottingham.

Former British Waterways warehouse dating from 1919.
Former British Waterways warehouse dating from 1919.

Newark Town Lock and late 19th century riverside warehouses, Millgate, Newark-on-Trent.
Newark Town Lock and late 19th century riverside warehouses, Millgate, Newark-on-Trent.

Lock and cottages at Beeston Lock.
Lock and cottages at Beeston Lock.

The Nottingham Canal

The only operational section runs through the south of Nottingham city centre from the River Trent at Meadow Lane Lock and connects again with the River Trent at Beeston Lock by means of the ‘Beeston Cut/Beeston Canal.’ It has been part of the Trent Navigation since 1937.

Stretches of the canal remain in water between Awsworth and Trowell and there is a short section still visible near Eastwood but much of it has been destroyed by open-cast coal mining or by surburban development in west Nottingham.

There are several surviving buildings and structures in Nottingham:

For further information see:

Trent Navigation and Beeston Canal

Still in operation.

Langley Mill Basin

The Cromford Canal, the Erewash Canal and the Nottingham Canal all met at Langley Mill (now in Derbyshire but before 1974 this part of the village was in Nottinghamshire). The basin was constructed by William Jessop in 1796 and restored by the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association in the early 1970s. A brick toll house and a swing-bridge relating to the Nottingham Canal, and the Victorian pump house are the only buildings to have survived.

The first length of the Cromford Canal here (above the junction with the Nottingham Canal) is occupied by a dry-dock, workshop and moorings belonging to Langley Mill Boatyard.