Nottingham Canal

Nottingham Canal
Part of the Nottingham Canal is maintained for Fishing. Pictured in 2006.
Specifications
Maximum boat length	85 ft 0 in (25.91 m)
Maximum boat beam	14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Locks	19 + 1 stop lock
Status	parts in use / nature reserve / infilled
History
Principal engineer	William Jessop
Date of act	1792
Date completed	1796
Date closed	1937
Geography
Start point	Langley Mill
End point	Nottingham
Connects to	River Trent

Nottingham Canal

Legend Cromford Canal Moorgreen Resr and feeder Langley Mill basin Langley Mill stop lock Langley Bridge Lock A608 Derby Road Erewash Canal Greasley Arm (Some sections watered) Bennerley Viaduct Newtons Lane A6096 road Coronation Road Robinettes Arm A609 road M1 Motorway (City section destroyed) A6002 road Railway Wollaton Locks (14) Wollaton Road Lenton Locks (3) Lenton Chain Beeston Cut Railway Castle Lock A453 Wilford Street bridge Irongate Wharf A60 road Brewery Arm Poplar Arm Poplar Arm Railway A6011 road A6011 road Meadow Lane Lock River Trent Trent Bridge Beeston Lock Beeston Weir River Trent

The Nottingham Canal was a 23.6 kilometres (14.7 mi) long canal between Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Nottingham, England. It opened in 1796, and most of it was closed in 1937. The southern section is now part of the River Trent Navigation, and the northern section is a Local Nature Reserve.^[1][2]

History

The idea for the canal first arose in 1790. Prior to that time, supplies of coal for Nottingham travelled down the Erewash Canal and along the River Trent. When the Cromford Canal was authorised in July 1789, there was concern that collieries which were located near it would thrive, at the expense of those nearer to Nottingham. There were also worries that the Erewash company would effectively have a monopoly on coal supplies, and might use this to increase prices. Convinced that these issues were not just idle speculation, Thomas Oldknow, John Morris and Henry Green lobbied for a public meeting. The meeting, held at the Guildhall on 26 October 1790, debated the idea of a canal running directly from the Cromford Canal to the Trent, joining it below Trent Bridge. Those present approved a plan, and formed a committee, which included two men who were also connected to the company building the Cromford Canal.^[3]

The committee called upon the services of the surveyor William Jessop, who had experience with the successful Cromford Canal. A possible route had already been suggested by Lord Middleton, owner of Wollaton Hall and coal mines at Wollaton, but Jessop discounted this, on the basis that it would involve lengths of deep cutting and some tunnelling. Jessop then became ill, and suggested that the survey could be carried out by James Green, who worked for Lord Middleton at Wollaton. The committee decide to wait for Jessop to recover, but after six months, they relented and asked Green to survey the route in June 1791, as well as a branch from Lenton across Beeston Meadows to join the Trent at Beeston. This would allow traffic on the river to bypass Trent Bridge, where passage was difficult, and to pass the wharves in Nottingham. When the Erewash Canal company learnt of the proposal, they approached Nottingham Corporation about them building a route from Beeston through Nottingham to the Trent, but at this stage the Corporation declined.^[4]

Green's work was overseen by Jessop, and in September 1791, Jessop had produced a route and an estimated cost. The first route had passed to the west of Wollaton Park, but Lord Middleton had insisted that unless it ran on the eastern side of his park, he would oppose the whole plan. Although this route was more expensive to construct, the eastern route was chosen.^[5] The committee accepted Jessop's estimate at the September meeting, and a public meeting was arranged on 25 October, where there was enthusiastic support for the new canal. They agreed to limit dividends to ten per-cent, and negotiations with the Cromford Canal company resulted in an agreement for the Nottingham company to build reservoirs which would feed into the Cromford Canal, so that water could pass into the Nottingham Canal at its northern end.^[6]

It was the time of Canal Mania, and the initial offers for shares were over-sbscribed. Amidst discontent from land owners, dividends were further limited to eight per-cent, the tolls on coal were reduced, and £20,000 of shares were set aside for purchase by the land owners. The bill was opposed by the Erewash Canal and the Trent and Mersey Canal, who were promoting a plan for the Trent Canal from Derwent Mouth, where the Trent and Mersey ended, via the Erewash, Beeston and Nottingham to the Trent below Nottingham. The Trent Navigation also argued against it, because they wanted to build the Beeston Cut themselves. Complicated negotiations followed, in which the Beeston Cut was dropped from the bill, on the understanding that the Trent Navigation would then apply to build it, and the Trent Canal bill was withdrawn when the Trent Navigation pledged to pursue a bill to improve the river. When an Act of Parliament was granted in May 1792, there were great celebrations in Nottingham.^[7]

Construction

The Act created the Nottingham Canal Company, who could raise £50,000 by issuing shares of £100, and could raise another £25,000 by obtaining a mortgage or by assigning the tolls, if required. The company were to build reservoirs which would feed into the Cromford Canal, in compensation for the water taken from that canal at Langley Mill.^[8] Jessop's original estimate for the cost of the works, excluding the Beeston Cut, had been £45,185 (£4,900,000 in 2015 ).^[9][10] Jessop was appointed engineer, with Green as superintendent, overseeing the day to day operation of the project, and work began at the Nottingham end on 30 July 1792.^[11] Benjamin Outram was given the task of calculating the water supply. He looked at the volumes of water flowing into the Erewash Canal and supplying mills on the Erewash, such as Langley Mill, and also at flows in the steams feeding the reservoirs. Measurements were taken in the summer of 1793, when flows were considerably less than in the winter, so that the amount of water that could be taken could be computed more accurately. Reservoirs were built at Greasley, which was sometimes called Moor Green reservoir, and at Butterley. Both fed water into the Cromford Canal, the first by a long feeder that entered the canal just above Langley Mill, and the second by a culvert into Butterley Tunnel.^[12]

Work began on 30 July 1792. The River Leen ran along the southern edge of the city between Lenton in the west and Leen Bridge, a series of flood arches to the east. The river bed was enlarged to form the canal, while the river was diverted into a new covered channel further to the north. The flood arches were replaced by a new bridge, and the canal turned sharply to the south, to join the Trent. The proprietors wanted a basin where the canal joined the river, with a lock above that, but Jessop argued that such an arrangement would lead to the entrance becoming blocked with sand. Building the lock close to the river would ensure that the sand was flushed away whenever the lock was emptied. The town section was officially opened on 30 July 1793, giving access to wharves, although there was still much work to be completed. To the east of Leen Bridge, a weir was constructed, to feed water into the Brewery Arm, an enlargement of the river channel. At its far end, another weir overflowed back into the new course of the Leen. A second arm, the Poplar Arm, was made using water channels on Eastcroft Meadow, and joined the Brewery Arm.^[13]

The cost of building the canal onwards from Lenton exceeded Jessop's estimate, and by September 1794, this had been paid for by calling £140 on each of the £100 shares. Further calls were made, and had reached £150 in March 1795. In February 1795, sections of the new cut were damaged, when seven weeks of severe frost were followed by a rapid thaw which caused flooding. The proprietors wrote to Jessop to express their dissatisfaction with "the erroneous construction of many works on the canal and the very large expense incurred", but Jessop was already involved in much bigger projects. On 1 March 1796, the first boat reached Nottingham from the south, travelling along the completed Beeston Cut, which joined the Nottingham Canal at Lenton, and on 26 April, the whole length of the canal was open. The work had cost £80,000, and most of the proprietors resigned soon afterwards.^[14] The share issue was topped up by borrowing £5,000 as a mortgage, which had been repaid by 1804.^[15]

Operation

When the canal was in use this bridge could be swung out of the canal's line. Pictured in 2006

As built, the canal was 14.75 miles (23.7 km) long, and rose through 19 locks, each 85 feet (26 m) by 14.5 feet (4.4 m), with an additional stop lock at Langley, where the canal joined the Cromford Canal. 14 of the locks were concentrated in a flight at Wollaton, with a long, level section beyond that to Langley. There were a number of short branches. The Bilborough Arm was constructed from the main line, above Wollaton locks, to a wharf in Bilborough wood, from where tramways ran to Bilborough and Strelley collieries. The branch was privately owned, and was operational from mid 1799, but by 1813, much of it was no longer used and some of it had been filled in. The rest was abandoned around 1874. The Robinetts cut was located near Cossall, and was completed by 1796, while the Duke of Rutland's collieries at Greasley and Fillingham were served by the Greasley Arm, which was built in 1800. Both branches were linked to the collieries by tramways.^[16]

Trade built up steadily, although not quite at quickly as the company had estimated. Tolls produced £2,614 in the year to April 1798. During that year, a packet boat began running between Nottingham and Cromford, and in 1798, a second boat provided a service between Nottingham and Leicester. Income from tolls increased to £4,647 in 1799/1800. Most of the traffic was coal, amounting to 89,500 tons out of a total of 114,227 tons carried. Co-operation between the Cromford Canal and the Nottingham Canal was good, to the benefit of both companies. A brief attempt to poach traffic the the Erewash Canal in 1797 by undercutting their rates was a financial disaster, leading to an agreement to charge the authorised tolls for goods on both canals, and not to try to entice customers from each other.^[17] Once the mortgage was redeemed in 1804, the company agreed to pay dividends to the shareholders, at a rate of £12 per £150 share. These were paid twice a year, but from time to time a third payment was made, to reduce the backlog of payments, which were nine years in arrears on the date when the first payment was made. By 1830, tolls raised £9,879, and in 1840, this had risen to £12,825.^[18]

At first, the canal was praised by the citizenry, who saw shipments of building materials, coal, and agricultural tools come into the area. However, the canal owners' tolls soon became excessive, and led to mass discontent. When the first railways arrived in the 1840s, a number of shippers quickly abandoned the canals. Throughout the 19th century the canal was in continuous decline as a transport route, and it was finally abandoned altogether in 1936. The following year the London and North Eastern Railway Company which owned it shut down the main stretch of the canal, with a portion of the Nottingham Canal (between Trent and Lenton) being transferred to the Trent Navigation Company, to officially become part of the River Trent Navigation.

Although abandoned, the canal still caused some problems. There were complaints that in times of heavy rainfall, the canal caused surrounding areas in the city to flood, and so Nottingham City Council bought the section running through the city. From 1955, a programme of filling in the canal began, and most of the route has subsequently been built over. The final section from Derby Road to Lenton Chain was, however, re-used as a new course for the River Leen, and so is still in water.^[5]

The canal today

Since 1977, the Broxtowe Borough Council has owned and maintained the upstream sections from Wollaton to Langley Mill as a nature reserve and walking trail. On the Trowell section of the walk, are the remains of Swansea bridge, one of the original stone bridges, which is Grade II listed, was built in 1793–95, and has wooden keep gates. The view from the bridge overlooks Trowell Garden Centre where you can see the original stone built lock keepers cottages, 1&2 Swansea Cottages, Trowell, built in 1794–95. The name Swansea for the bridge and cottages originates from the fact that this particular part of the canal is where large quantities of swans used to congregate. Due to the lack of water in 1980 a decision was taken by the garden centre and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to relocate them. Much of the route is in water, although water supply is a problem. The Robinettes Arm acts as a feeder, taking water from Oldmoor Wood, but beyond this, a 3.2-kilometre (2.0 mi) section has been destroyed by open cast mining at Awsworth, cutting off the original water supplies from Giltbrook and Moorgreen reservoir. Because of the rich habitat that the route provides, it was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 1993.^[19] The downstream section through Nottingham and connecting to the River Trent remains in use as part of the Beeston and Nottingham Canal.

The towpath of the canal through Nottingham city centre forms part of Nottingham's Big Track, a 16-kilometre (9.9 mi) circular car-free cycle route and footpath, which follows the canal from the railway station in Nottingham to the Beeston locks, and then returns via the Trent riverside path.^[20][21]

References

1. "Nottingham Canal". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England.
2. "Map of Nottingham Canal". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England.
3. Hadfield 1970, pp. 54-55.
4. Hadfield 1970, p. 55.
5. Lenton 1989, p. 1.
6. Hadfield 1970, pp. 55-56.
7. Hadfield 1970, pp. 56, 64-65.
8. Priestley 1831, pp. 482-483.
9. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
10. Chell 2006, p. 11.
11. Hadfield 1970, p. 56.
12. Shill 2011, pp. 82-83.
13. Shill 2011, pp. 83,86.
14. Hadfield 1970, pp. 56-57.
15. Chell 2006, p. 18.
16. Hadfield 1970, pp. 57-58.
17. Chell 2006, pp. 33-34.
18. Chell 2006, p. 35.
19. "Nottingham Canal Trail". Broxtowe Borough Council. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
20. "Big Track Map" (PDF). The Big Wheel. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
21. "Get healthy on the Big Track". BBC. 30 June 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2013.

Further reading

• Chell, Bernard (2006). Nottingham Canal: A History and Guide. History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-3759-0.
• De Salis, Henry Rodolph (1969). Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers. David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-4689-1.
• Hadfield, Charles (1970). The Canals of the East Midlands (Second ed.). David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-4871-0.
• Henshaw, Alan; Henshaw, Alfred (2000). Great Northern Railway in the East Midlands. Railway Correspondence and Travel Society. ISBN 978-0-901115-86-7.
• Lenton (May 1989). The Story Of The Nottingham Canal. Lenton Times 2 (Lenton Local History Society).
• Priestley, Joseph (1831). "Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways of Great Britain".
• Russell, Ronald (1971). Lost Canals of England and Wales (First ed.). David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-5417-9.
• Schofield, Reginald Bryan (2000). Benjamin Outram, 1764–1805: an engineering biography. Merton Priory Press. ISBN 978-1-898937-42-5.
• Shill, Ray (2011). Silent Highways - The forgotten heritage of the Midlands canals. History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-5842-7.
• Zaleski, Stephen (2001). The Nottingham Canal, Past and Present. The Local History Press. ISBN 978-0-9519459-2-6.

External links

• "The Lenton Times Article". The Lenton Times.
• Photographs along Nottingham Canal from Nottingham21

Coordinates: 52°57′18″N 1°16′43″W / 52.9550°N 1.2787°W