Cromford Canal

Cromford Canal
The end of the canal, in Cromford
Specifications
Locks	14
Status	Part navigable, part derelict
Navigation authority	Derbyshire County Council
History
Original owner	Cromford Canal Company
Principal engineer	Benjamin Outram
Date of act	1789
Date completed	1794
Geography
Start point	Cromford
End point	Langley Mill
Branch(es)	Pinxton
Connects to	Erewash Canal, Nottingham Canal

v t e Cromford Canal
Legend
Cromford Wharf High Peak Junction Leawood Pumping Station Leawood Aqueduct River Derwent End of navigable section Nightingale Arm Aqueduct Derby-Matlock Railway High Peak Aqueduct 76 yards Gregory Tunnel Ambergate Hag Tunnel River Amber Aqueduct  A610  Ripley - Ambergate Road 33 yards Buckland Hollow Tunnel Midland Main Line 3063 yards Butterley Tunnel Butterley Reservoir and feeder Pinxton Wharf Erewash Valley line Codnor Park Reservoir and feeder Midland Railway – Butterley 1-7 Codnor Park Locks (7) Portland Basin Erewash Valley line 8 Butterley Co Lock 9 Stoneyford Lock 10 Stoneyford Deep Lock 11 Stoneyford Shallow Lock Erewash Aqueduct 12 Vickers Lock 13 Strutts Lock  A610  road bridge Moorgreen Reservoir and feeder Langley Mill Basin Nottingham Canal 14 Langley Bridge Lock  A608  Derby Road bridge Erewash Canal

The Cromford Canal ran 14.5 miles (23.3 kilometres) from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks.^[1]

From Cromford it ran south following the 275-foot (84 m) contour line along the east side of the valley of the Derwent to Ambergate, where it turned eastwards along the Amber valley. It turned sharply to cross the valley, crossing the river and the Ambergate to Nottingham road, by means of an aqueduct at Bullbridge, before turning towards Ripley. From there the Butterley Tunnel took it through to the Erewash Valley.

From the tunnel it continued to Ironville, the junction for the branch to Pinxton, and then descended through fourteen locks to meet the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill. The Pinxton Branch became important as a route for Nottinghamshire coal, via the Erewash, to the River Trent and Leicester and was a terminus of the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway.

A 6-mile (9.7 km) long section of the Cromford canal between Cromford and Ambergate is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)^[2][3] and a Local Nature Reserve.^[4][5]

In addition to purely canal traffic, there was a lively freight interchange with the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which traversed the plateau of the Peak District from Whaley Bridge in the north west, and which descended to the canal at High Peak Junction by means of an inclined plane.