The following photographs were taken by me along the canal, during two days of visit. They show how people use the canal, what kind of building has its surroundings, the nature and other characteristics of the place.
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The Nottingham Canal originally extended from a junction with the Cromford Canal just above its junction with the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill to the Trent at Nottingham – about 15 miles (24 km) and 18 locks, but most of it has been closed and filled.
The most important traffic on the canal was coal; other goods carried were gravel, road stone and manure. The canal was taken over by the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston, and East Junction Railway in 1855 and traffic steadily declined. It was disused by 1928 and finally abandoned in 1937, except for the 2¼ mile (3.6 km) section that ran from Lenton Chain to the River Trent through the city centre which was transferred to the River Trent Navigation and is still in use today. The first entry point for walkers is a red footbridge which crosses the canal to allow access across the waterway to those who live within the housing estate. It is probably these people who demanded that the lock and junction should be fenced off as local children were playing near the bridge when I visited the area in 1996. The Nottingham Canal headed north from Lenton Chain but no boat has travelled this way since 1937 when the whole of the route north of here was closed. Most of the canal between Lenton and Wollaton has long since disappeared but it used to head north, on the east side of Lord Middleton's estate, Wollaton Park The maximum boat size that can navigate the Nottingham Canal is length: 79' 9" (24.3 metres) - Castle Lock beam: 15' 2" (4.62 metres) - Castle Lock height: 8' 0" (2.44 metres) - Chain Lane / London Road Bridge draught: 4' 0" (1.22 metres) - cill of Castle Lock 1790
The Nottingham Canal was first promoted by three men, Thomas Oldknow, John Morris and Henry Green. Their plan was to build a canal from the city of Nottingham to Langley Mill where it would meet the Cromford Canal and the already well established Erewash Canal. This was because most of Nottingham's coal supply came from the mines which were scattered around the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire border. Until this time, coal had been hauled over land to Nottingham or brought by boat down the Erewash Canal and River Trent. The Nottingham Canal would more than halve the journey - and the cost. On October 20th a meeting was held at the Guildhall in Nottingham and the enthusiasm for the project was so great that the Nottingham Canal Company was formed on the spot. 1791 The new company employed William Jessop to make a survey for a possible route. He proposed a line of just under 15 miles from the centre of Nottingham, near Trent Bridge, to Langley Mill where the Erewash Canal ended and the Cromford Canal was to begin. As well as the main line there would also be a number of branches, most of which were to be privately owned. 1792 Work began with Jessop as chief engineer and it was a fairly straight forward job with no special features such as major aqueducts or tunnels. 1793 The first couple of miles of the canal opened on July 30th. This was the section from the River Trent junction near Trent Bridge, to the centre of Nottingham near Carrington Street. 1796 The whole of the Nottingham Canal opened and it was a reasonable success right from the start. Coal bound for Nottingham was its main cargo but it also carried many other things including building materials and house bricks from Balloon Woods, lime and timber from Wollaton and also a fair amount of "night soil". A passenger service from Cromford to the centre of Nottingham was also run regularly. Goods also went along the Nottingham and Cromford canals in the opposite direction, most of which would be taken to Cromford on route to Manchester. Other goods were sent south west from the Nottingham Canal onto the Erewash Canal. 1951 After privatisation in 1947, the government now wanted to get rid of the many canals which had long since been disused. In the case of the Nottingham Canal this was done by giving away the land to any local authorities who wanted it. Thus, the stretches near Nottingham were taken over and in subsequent years have been filled in and built on. |
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