Lost Derbyshire Part 2 - Cromford Canal Disused Section
We are back in the Amber Valley on the Cromford Canal between Ambergate and Butterley Tunnel for our next installment of lost history exploring.
The Cromford Canal is mostly cared for by it's custodians 'Friends of Cromford Canal'. Already in water towards Cromford, High Peak Junction and Leawood, there are ambitious canal restoration plans further affield.
We start at the end of the in water section as it enters Ambergate. Once the site of George Stephensons limeworks. Straight away we encounter the site of the Hag Tunnel, long burried but we can see a shaft by the eastern portal. Upon exiting the tunnel we see the site of the former Ambergate Stevenson Dye Works. Closed in 2006 and now a building site for new housing.
As we continue along the towpath, the historic canal features come thick and fast. We pass what used to be Amber Whare - the junction with the Butterley Gangroad. Claimed to be the worlds oldest railway. Little remains now at the Wharfe from a canal perspective, but we can see the aquaduct over Drovers Lane.
The tunnel
Next up is the site of the Bullbridge Aquaduct. Again, fully demolished but we can get an idea of the scale of the crossing as it spanned the River Amber, Midland Railway and the A610 below.
Sawmills Gauging Stop, Buckland Hollow Tunnel and Stavehimvaley bridge come and go as we continue our walk. The canal then enters are more rural setting as it approahes towards Hatshay and the Hartshay Wharfe - once a location where coal was carried on a railway before being loaded onto the barges.
After negotiating the A610, which rudely interrupts the flow of the towpath, we descend on the the final approach to the Butterley Tunnel.
The tunnel collapsed in 1900, which accelreated the demise of the canal, which due to the railways was already in decline. We can see the western portal, which was added upon construction of the A38 some years ago.
There are plans to reinstate more of the canal we see on this video to compliment the existing Cromford Canal north of Ambergate.
Friends of Cromford Canal - www.cromfordcanal.org/
4 май 2022
