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CHAP. 5.

1785, men were employed in large gangs, to drag the boats on this canal and on the Trent river near it, but horses are now universally used for Canals. towing. The Act, 33rd Geo. III. for the Derby canal, granted to the Grand-Trunk Canal Company, certain rates on goods crossing this canal or passing out of it into the Trent navigation, by the detached parts of the Derby canal.-The Company have been authorized, by their different Acts, to raise £334,250. The shares were originally £200. each, but the 42nd Geo. III. empowered the Company to increase the number of shares at £100. At Shardlow, Willington, Horninglow, &c. there are warehouses for the accommodation of the trade, and numerous public wharfs.-The number of road and foot bridges over this canal is two hundred and fiftyeight. The tunnels belonging to this line of canal were the first enterprises of this nature in England. The Harecastle tunnel is two thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight yards long, through coal-measures, at seventy yards beneath the ridge. It is arched twelve feet high and nine feet wide. In its course, it intersects several valuable seams of coals, some of which are worked by means of small branch tunnels. The cost of driving this tunnel was £3. 10s. 8d. per yard run, in the year 1776; and being the first public canal tunnel constructed in Britain, it attracted for several years more attention than it now deserves.-There are other tunnels on the line of this canal in other counties; and there are rail-ways, connecting the neighbouring collieries with this canal in various parts of its line.

Chesterfield

The Chesterfield canal was projected by Brindley, and a survey of the country through which it was to be carried was made by that eminent en- Canal. gineer about the year 1769. In 1770 an Act of Parliament was obtained, authorising the Company to raise £100,000. in shares of £100. each. The canal was completed in 1777, and on June the 4th, in that year, the first vessel was brought to the town of Chesterfield. The Act obtained by this Company also warranted their borrowing £50,000. at £5. per cent. interest on mortgage of the tolls, or to raise that sum by new shares, at the discretion of the committee. By reports made to the Company by their committee, it appears that £2482. 3s. 6d. is annually paid out of the tolls, being the amount of interest at £5. per cent. on the sum of £49,643. 10s.; and from the same documents we learn that there are nine hundred and eightysix share-holders, who obtain a profit upon the original £100. subscribed, of from £6. to £8. per cent. The expense of cutting the canal, with the charges for the survey and the Act of Parliament included, amounted to £160,000.-The general direction of this canal from Chesterfield is nearly north-west, by a crooked course about forty-five miles in length, in the counties of Nottingham, York and Derby.* It commences in the Trent

* From the tide-way in the Trent to Drake-hole wharf, about six miles, three furlongs, there is a rise of twenty-seven feet and a quarter; thence to East Retford wharf, eight miles and a quarter, there is a rise of seven feet; thence to Babworth, two miles and five furlongs, a rise of thirty-one feet and three quarters; thence to Worksop, seven miles and a quarter, a rise of twentyeight feet; thence to Peck-mill, five miles and a quarter, a rise of one hundred and fifty-six feet to the summit, level two hundred and fifty feet above the Trent. From Peck-mill to the east end of the tunnel, half a mile, the course is level with the tunnel, which extends two miles to Norwood; thence to Gander-lane, half a mile, is a fall of one hundred feet; thence to Norbrigs branch, six miles and a quarter, level; thence to Hollingwood common, two miles, level; thence to Wilden's mill, two miles, a rise of twenty-nine feet; thence to the basin, at the north-east of Chesterfield, one mile and five furlongs, is a rise of eleven feet, by one lock, the canal in this last distance having crossed the Rother.

CHAP. 5. Canals.

Erewash
Canal.

near its junction with the Idle, at West Stockwith, about three miles and a half from Gainsborough, and terminates at the town of Chesterfield. The western part is considerably elevated above the sea, and crosses the East Rother ridge of hills by an extensive tunnel. The objects of this canal are chiefly the export of coals, lead, cast-iron, limestone, freestone, pottery wares; and the returns are foreign timber, grain, bar-iron, &c. The first part of this canal, from the Trent to East Retford, is constructed for large boats of fifty or sixty tons burthen, and above this, the width is twenty-six or twenty-eight feet, and the depth from four to five feet only. In the chain of locks between Shire Oaks and Sand-hill close, there are eighteen (numbered from 38 to 21) which from their proximity have been named the giant's staircase; and at the west end of the tunnel there are four locks, formed by only five gates, and below these there are six locks united together.-The Hollingwood Common tunnel is a mile and three quarters long. It is not connected with the level of the canal, but kept one foot lower, by means of a culvert under the canal. The whole of its length, except the first three hundred yards, is driven in the "Deep End or Squire's" coal seam, where it is of service for draining the works. The southern end of the tunnel is about eighty yards beneath the surface: it is six feet high and five feet and three quarters wide. The depth of water within it is two feet, on which boats are used twenty-one feet long and three feet and a half wide, holding seven corves, which weigh together about 20 cwt. When these tunnel-boats arrive at the side of the canal, a crane is used to hoist up the corves and empty their contents into a canal boat. This curious colliery belongs to the Duke of Devonshire, and is worked under the direction of his Grace's colliery agent. Near the middle of the tunnel, there are sixty-eight yards of its course driven through a grit-stone, without the archway being bricked as it is in other places. On the north of Staveley, the canal is cut deep through the west Dolee ridge of hills. There is an aqueduct bridge over the Dolee, near Staveley, and another over the brook at Renishaw furnace. In Killamarsh there is a road arch under the canal.- Respecting the rates or tolls, we find that the Act limits the tonnage for lime to 1d. per ton per mile, and 1d. per ton per mile for coals, lead, timber, stone and all other goods, except manures for the lands of any person whose estate has been cut through by the canal, which are to pay only d. per ton per mile. Hay and corn going to be stacked, and materials for the repair of roads, may be navigated toll-free for five miles. Goods are not to remain more than twenty-four hours on the Company's wharfs without paying wharfage; for the next six days 3d. per ton may be charged.

The Erewash canal had its origin in the desire of the owners of extensive coal mines, situate on the borders of Nottinghamshire, and an Act was obtained for its formation in the 17th year of the late king's reign, and another for the regulation of its tolls in the 29th.-The engineer was Mr. William Jessop, and, under his superintendance, it was completed in a very few years. The general direction of this canal is chiefly along the course of the Erewash valley, and by it the county exports coals, limestone, iron, lead, various kinds of stone and marble, and imports corn, malt and timber. It commences in the Trent navigation at Trent lock, near Sawley,

CHAP. 5.

and terminates in the Cromford canal at Langley bridge. On the northeast of Stanton-by-Dale it is joined by the Nutbrook canal, and about half Canals. a mile south of Sandiacre it unites with the Derby canal. The whole length of this canal is ten miles and three quarters; and there are twentyfive bridges across it. Its northern end is elevated, and the rise is one hundred and eight feet and two-thirds, by means of fourteen locks. Over the Nutbrook, on the north-east of Stanton, and over the Erewash above Newmanley's mill, this canal is conveyed on aqueduct arches. Some of the coal-seams of the Newthorpe-common colliery are continued under this canal for a considerable distance, without any injury to the interests of the Canal Company.-By the Erewash canal much of the coal-trade is carried on, and previous to the year 1798, the quantity or weight allowed to a ton varied at almost every coal-wharf, so that the Navigation Companies were greatly inconvenienced in collecting their tonnage duties. Meetings of the committees from nine* Navigation Companies took place in the year abovementioned, and it was agreed that weighing-houses should be erected upon the several canals, and that the ton should be fixed at 2,400 lbs. One of these weighing-houses is situate on this canal at Sawley wharf.

The Nutbrook canal may be considered as a branch of the Erewash Nutbrook navigation. It commences in the last-mentioned canal, about a quarter of Canal. a mile south of Trowell, and terminates at Shipley wharf, from which there is a rail-way extending half a mile to the colliery. The Act for this canal was obtained in the year 1793. Edward Miller Mundy, esq. and the late Sir Henry Hunloke, bart. were the chief promoters of the undertaking. The Company was authorised to raise the sum of £19,500. in £100. shares. The extent of the canal is four miles and three quarters in the county of Derby, and its course is along the Nutbrook vale. Coal and limestone are the principal and almost only articles conveyed upon it. The proprietors of adjoining estates are allowed to make branches from it, and the agents of Earl Stanhope claim the carriage of ironstone and limestone, duty free, to the Dale-Abbey furnaces. A very large reservoir in Shipley park, and four smaller ones, in or near the park, supply this canal in part. It has also a feeder from Dale-Abbey brook.

The Peak Forest canal navigation was constituted and regulated by Acts Peak Forest passed in the 34th, 40th, and 45th of George III. Mr. Benjamin Outram Canal. was the engineer, and Mr. Thomas Brown superintended the construction. In 1797 it was completed with the exception of the Marple locks, which were opened in 1803. The extent of this canal is about twenty miles and a quarter in the counties of Lancaster, Chester and Derby; and the articles principally conveyed by it are Peak Forest limestone, coals, paving stones, iron, deals, &c. It branches out of the Ashton-under-Lyne canal, near Dunkinfield bridge, and crossing the river Tame, passes Denton and Marple-chapel to Whaley-bridge, where it enters Derbyshire; and thence a rail-way extension passes on by Chapel-en-le-Frith to the Bar-moor or Loads-Knowl and Dove-hole quarries. The width of the canal is thirty feet at top and fifteen at bottom, and the depth five feet and a half. The locks are seventy-two feet long and eight wide, and their general rise about

The Erewash, Derby, Cromford, Grantham, Leicester, Melton-Mowbray, Nottingham, Nutbrook and Trent Companies.

Canals.

Marple
Aqueduct.

CHAP. 5. thirteen feet each. Sixteen locks occur in the space of one mile and a quarter below the Marple lime-works, but the places of the Marple locks were at first supplied by a steep rail-way or inclined plane for trams, from 1797 to 1806. On the great inclined plane, about half a mile east of Chapel-en-le-Frith, there is a double rail-way, with a large inclined wheel or pulley, over which is passed an immense endless chain: to this the trams are linked, and are continually ascending and descending. There is also an inclined plane with a double rail-way at the Loads-Knowl quarry: it is three and thirty yards in extent, and has a horse-gin wheel at the top which draws up the loaded trams and lets down those that are empty. The rail-way extension was at first made single, but in 1803 it was re-laid with a double road. The bodies of the trams are made of rolled plate-iron, and carry 45 cwt. each.-The great Marple aqueduct bridge, over the Mersey, about a quarter of a mile below the junction of the Etherow and the Goyte, is among the most considerable of the works of this kind in the kingdom. It consists of three equal semi-circular arches of sixty feet span each; the middle one is seventy-eight feet high, and the whole structure has an elevation of one hundred feet. The river, except in times of floods, is confined to the middle arch. The lower halves of the piers are constructed of rough red masonry, from Hyde-bank quarry: the upper part is of handsome white hewn masonry. Four cylindrical apertures are worked through the haunches of the arches in order to lighten them. The abutments widen downward in well-proportioned curves, and the walls diminish upward in the same manner. The building unites solidity with elegance, and its position amidst the wild features of nature gives it a bold and romantic character. "Where the river, after passing Marple bridge and winding through the meadows, withdraws from the scene" says Mr. Rhodes in his Peak Scenery "the aqueduct of the Peak Forest canal, spans the busy stream and frets and foams over its rocky channel in the glen below. This elegant structure has the appearance of a Roman bridge of three arches, and it emerges from the woods with uncommon grace and dignity. A finer object in landscape is but seldom seen; and when the mild radiance of an evening sun is playing amongst the trees with which it is connected, and tipping the topmost branches with light, whilst all below is reposing in shadow, the view from Compstall House* is one continued scene of beauty." There is also a smaller aqueduct of two arches, which sustain the canal over the Goyte and a bye-road, at Bottom-hall near Whaley bridge; besides several others beyond the limits of this county.-The Peak Forest canal is wholly supplied by flood-waters, reserved in the Coomb's-brook reservoir of forty-five acres, at Tunstead Milltown. The water for the canal passes through iron pipes which are laid under the bed of the Goyte. -The rates on this canal are 1d. per ton per mile for stone and coal; 1d. per ton per mile for burnt lime, and 3d. wharfage. The Company was authorised, by the Act of Parliament in 1794, to raise £150,000. in £100. shares; and eight years afterwards the shares bore a premium of £10. per cent. They subsequently obtained permission to increase the number of shares; and we have been informed, that the works, which are every where

The residence of G. Andrews, esq. proprietor of the cotton-printing works at Marple.

executed with great skill, over one of the most discouraging tracts of CHAP. 5. country, considerably exceeded the original estimate.

Canals.

The Cromford canal takes a course of fourteen miles and three quarters Cromford in the counties of Derby and Nottingham. Its northern parts are con- Canal. siderably elevated, and it penetrates the east Derwent ridge by a tunnel. Its object of transit downwards are coals, limestone, mill-stone and grindstones, freestone, marble, chert, lead, iron, &c. while in its upward transit, it carries malt, timber as well as coals from the lower pits. It commences in the Erewash canal at Langley bridge and terminates at the town of Cromford. From Codnor lower park and other places, there are cuts from three furlongs to twenty furlongs in length; and the connecting rail-ways are numerous. In the village of Fritchley, the Crich rail-way passes over a stone bridge and again over a private road on a wooden bridge, and enters the limestone quarry by a tunnel, one hundred yards in length. At Bullbridge this rail-way is continued to machines on a high bank, where the contents of the trams are shot down an inclined plane into iron boats.— The width of this canal is twenty-six feet, at top, and the regular canal boats are eighty feet long, seven feet and a quarter wide, and three feet and a half deep. From the Erewash canal to the Pinxton branch, the extent is three miles and a half, with a rise of eighty feet; thence to Pentrich-lane, four miles level; thence to the south end of Bull-bridge aqueduct, one mile level; thence to Lea-wood cut, at the east end of the Derwent aqueduct, four miles and a half level, and thence to Cromford wharf, one mile and three quarters, also level.—The tunnel at Butterley is driven through coal-measures, two thousand nine hundred and seventyeight yards in length and about fifty-seven yards below the ridge: it is lined with brick, except where the perforated rock appeared capable of its own support. The crown of the arch is eight feet above the water's edge, the water being at its surface nine feet wide. The expense of the tunnel was £7. per yard.

Near Bull-bridge, there is a short tunnel through the limestone. At Wigwell, this canal is carried over the Derwent in a large aqueduct bridge, two hundred yards long and thirty feet high; the river-arch is eighty feet span, and there is a smaller arch on each side for private roads. This aqueduct was built in 1792.-Over the Amber river at Bull-bridge there is an aqueduct of equal length, and fifty feet in height. These two aqueducts cost upwards of £6,000.—This canal is supplied with a very considerable stream of warm water from Cromford sough, and it is probably in consequence of such supply that this canal, west of Butterley tunnel, very rarely, if ever freezes. The Company is authorised to require mineowners, within a thousand yards of their line and branches, to lift their water high enough to run by proper feeders into this caual; the Company paying any extra expense. Coal-masters are restrained, by the Act, from working under the canal, until they shall have given notice to the Company, to purchase the coals under the same at a valuation: but it being found that little damage is done to the canal-works by such working of the coalseams, the Company has for several years past, left the coal-owners to their own determination.-The Act for this canal was obtained in the 29th

year of George III, The engineers employed were Mr. William Jessop

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