Restoration Feature Derby Canal

Restoration feature

It’s been the site of one of the trial Canal Camps of 2021 - and it’s set to be one

Derby and Sandiacre Canal The restoration story: The restoration

of the canal started in 1993, when the The Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust was formed, 200 years after the original Act of Navigation was granted. The sections of the canal given to Derbyshire County Council have now been returned to the DSCT, along with some sections in Derby owned by Derby City Council. We are also working with the owners of various sections of canal purchased from the original canal company to return them to our ownership for restoration.

The fully restored Derby Canal will stretch for 20 Km (12.5 miles) from the junction at Sandiacre on the Erewash Canal to Spondon, just outside the east side of Derby, a new section from Spondon to Wilmorton by Pride Park and then south passing through Shelton Lock and Chellaston to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone. On the existing canal line, except for a small section, the full width of the canal has been maintained along with the hedges. Where are we at now? Currently the

Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust owns 6 sections totalling approx. 9 Km and has rebuilt 2 of the original bridges. At Sandiacre, we have started to excavate the lock chamber of the rubbish used as infill. This section of the Derby Canal, unfortunately, from the Erewash Canal to Longmoor Lane in Sandiacre has been declared an Industrial Landfill Site with all sorts of waste deposited. Trial samples showed that the toxic levels were low, but the local council insisted that a high fence was put round the site which the locals do not like. We are in discussion with Severn Trent to redirect a sewer pipe that crosses the lock lower wing wall and bridge base. Once the pipe is moved, hopefully in 2022, we will be able to complete the dig out of the chamber and start to rebuild the damaged wall. Future WRG Canal Camp?? The section from the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre to the M1 in Long Eaton, that the Trust owns is filled in with the original hedges in place and a footpath down the centre. This is where our ‘extreme’ gardening work parties start with hedge and path maintenance. The next section that the Trust owns is from Hopwell Road to Derby Road in Draycott. This section is currently being dug out to create a 1.1Km section of restored canal. Phase 1 of the dig out by Derby Road has been completed. When the canal was in-filled, no one took into consideration the surface water on the fields or the brooks which fed into the original canal. So when it rained the railway, at a lower level, flooded. In the late 1990’s a ditch was dug in the in-filled canal to Section of canal being restored at Draycott prevent the flooding but

Pictures by DSCT

Derby & Sandiacre Canal

again. David Savidge updates us on an important East Midlands restoration

Derby & Sandiacre Canal

Length: 14 miles Locks: 9 (on main line) Date closed: 1964

Derby

Original route lost New route into Derby using River Derwent Proposed diversion past Derby

Proposed boat lift Sandiacre Lock work site

Borrowash Locks work site

Draycott Length

To Nottingham

The Derby & Sandiacre Canal (or to use its historic name the Derby Canal) was started in 1793 and completed in 1796, under the supervision of Benjamin Outram. It was constructed to bring the coal, stone and clay from the Ripley area of Derbyshire to Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham and London. Due to the high cost of the locks from Derby to Ripley, they decided to start the canal at Little Eaton, to the north of Derby. The canal company constructed an early railway, ‘gang road’, from Ripley to Little Eaton, with horses pulling a train of wagons on rails to the side of the canal in Little Eaton. Here, the boxes on the wagons were lifted and place in to the waiting narrow boats. ‘Containerisation’ in the 1790s! The boats headed south to Derby to a junction to the north side of the River Derwent. The boats then either turned east and headed for Sandiacre and the Erewash Canal and Nottingham, or turned west to the Silk Mill on the Derwent in Derby. Alternatively, they crossed the river above a weir to head south to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone, for goods for Birmingham and London. Before the railways came to the area there was an extension of the Derby Canal at Swarkestone with a set of locks down to the River Trent. This connection was lost early in the life of the canal, as passage on the river was difficult and the section finally cut by a railway track. During World War 2, the Derby Canal was not deemed to be of strategic importance, as it was only a loop between the Erewash and Trent and Mersey Canals, and was not supported by the government and not included in the nationalisation of the canals after the War. It stayed in private hands and as the use of canals declined the revenue coming in didn’t cover the maintenance costs and it fell into disrepair. Finally the canal was abandoned in the 1960s, after an abortive attempt to navigate the canal in 1962 and an IWA protest rally. The canal then became a place for the builder who now owned it, to dispose of his site rubbish. When it was finally given to Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council it was grassed over and turned into a foot path.

they destroyed the clay liner and we are now having to reline the whole section. The liner is over half the cost to restore this section. This first section of 300m has a 30m section of moorings for when we get boats in the canal, and a plastic fence installed around the whole section to receive up to 10 water voles from the next section to be dug out next year. The banks have been planted, seeded and plants transplanted to give the water voles a temporary home while the rest of the section is dug out.

At the Hopwell Road end of the canal in Draycott, we are coming to the end, of what feels a long road, to restore the canal cottages. This was a mill built in about 1825 by the canal company and later sold to the local Long Eaton Co-op as houses for the farm workers at the Coops farms in Draycott. The building has been changed and added to, in the previous 200 years. Going from a mill of 2 storeys, to 3 storey cottages, 9 originally to 6 in later life. The restoration work has now formed 3 cottages of 2 to 4 bedrooms, a cafe, office, meetings rooms for the Trust and a small museum section. We have retained as much as possible of the later original features but have followed modern planning requirements for insulation and finishes.

Heading west towards Derby, we now own the canal line from Fosse Close to the Spondon Bourne in Borrowash. In the 1990s, we worked with a builder at Borrowash, who was building a housing estate on the north side of the canal. The builder dug out the Borrowash Bottom (Shacklecross) lock and a section of canal above the lock to Station Road in Borrowash. The lock chamber has over the last four years been the site of the three Canal Camps by WRG, lead by Colin Hobbs, to help us rebuild the lock chamber, wing walls and the start of the bywash. The planned visit in 2020 was (like all that year’s camps) cancelled due to Covid. Our own volunteers have now completed some further landscaping and seeding around the lock,

WRG Canal Camp working at Borrowash Bottom Lock... and we await a further sewer pipe diversion by Severn Trent to allow this section to be completely restored as a canal. The section from Station Road to the Spondon Bourne is still in filled, so here our ‘Extreme Gardening’ teams maintain the hedges, trees and cut the grass. The next section (heading west towards Derby) that the Trust own, is from Roving Drive to Anglers Lane at Spondon. This 600m section was returned to the Trust from Derby City Council following a proposal to build some new houses between the canal and Nottingham Road. When the builder originally applied for planning approval, the planning officer suggested that he talk to the Trust to use our canal as the surface water catchment area. Following a joint planning application the builder dug out the section along the rear of his site down to the clay liner under our supervision. He also arranged for disposal of the soil and debris that was found, including tyres, curb stones, window sills, bricks and tarmac deposits from the 1970s infill. All the road drains and roof drains from the houses now feed into the canal and overflow out into the River Derwent to the south. Challenges ahead: The section from this dug out section to Anglers Lane is going to prove to be a problem, as we have Severn Trent sewers going from east to west from the new housing site and an older estate at Roving Drive. To add to the problem there is

And what else? In

a surface water pipe heading west to east. Both of these pipes run along the centre and below the old canal bed. The clay liner is therefore totally destroyed and will require re-lining.

On the southern section, we own approximately 1km section to the north of the A50 bypass at Chellaston. This section of canal was not filled in and Derby City Council have maintained the towpath and surfaced it as part of their cycle / foot path route. However, over the years the trees along both sides of the canal have been neglected and

in need of some TLC. Maybe a job for the WRG Forestry team? Derby City Centre, we are working with Derby City Council to help them bring boating back to the city centre and improve the river side amenities. These include our trip boat Outram, which has recently been launched onto the river to provide a tourist attraction in 2022. Plans are also being considered for the ‘Derby Arm’ boat lift, ...and view of the completed bottom end of the lock along side the canal by Pride Park. This would take boats out of the new section of canal at Pride Park (which wil be built to bypass the lost sections of the canal in Derby - see map) and allow them to navigate up the river to a proposed new lock in the current weir and new marina and moorings in the city centre. As you can see at the Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust we have lots of ongoing projects in various stages to keep all our volunteers busy both on the ground and in the back rooms. David Savidge Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust

Trip boat ‘Outram’ is launched into the Derwent in autumn 2021