History
Before the onset of the Canal Mania of the 1790s, the factories of Derby relied on inadequate highways and the archaic Derwent Navigation for the transport of goods, but the river's shortcomings were frequently exposed by floods and droughts. This made the river unnavigable for long periods. The River Trent was said to be no better. Movement along the Derwent was slowed by long delays on the Trent, below the confluence of these rivers. Coal, in particular, was expensive and was often in short supply in Derby, in spite of the nearby Bottle Brook Valley mines, which remained undeveloped and unprofitable in the absence of suitable transport.
Derby needed a good transport system and James Brindley advocated a canal as early as 1771, to link his Trent & Mersey and Chesterfield canals via Derby. Unfortunately, opposition by vested interests prevented its promotion until the matter was raised again in 1791. In September that year, notices in the Derby Mercury! referred to two schemes then under consideration by different parties. A meeting had been held to discuss proposals for a canal to join the Trent & Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to Derby. It was reported that the Trent & Mersey and Erewash canal companies were also considering a Trent Canal which would link the Trent & Mersey with Nottingham, with a branch from Shardlow into Derby.
Nothing further was heard of either scheme until August 1792, when the former proposal was reviewed by a committee of businessmen and Benjamin Outram was commissioned to survey and estimate for a broad canal. The preliminary work was rapidly completed by Outram and he reported to a meeting of the promoters on 8 September, 1792.
Outram's original report and estimates have not survived but an article in the Derby Mercury of 13 September, 1792 stated that the canal would begin 'at or near Swarkestone on the River Trent, passing by Derby to Smithy Houses, with a branch near Derby to the Erewash Canal near Sandiacre. The expense of executing the waterway would amount to about £60,000' (£4.2m at today's prices). This estimate was based on the cost of a broad canal from Derby to Denby, from Derby to the Erewash Canal and from Derby to the River Trent. Added to this was the cost (£8,160) of an aqueduct across the Derwent at Derby (£557,000) and the purchase (£3,996) of the Derwent Navigation (£253,000).
The high costs of the Denby line and the aqueduct caused the promoters concern and Outram, probably a few days later, could only suggest the substitution of a narrow for a broad canal on the Denby line, at a saving of about £5,000. This modification was wisely rejected and more radical changes were then recommended following consultations with William Jessop.
Jessop reviewed his young colleague's proposals and his comments were submitted in a letter to the chairman of the promoters early in November. Generally Jessop approved of most of Outram's plans. He recommended minor improvements to parts of the Swarkestone line but felt that the Denby line merited a complete change of plan.
Jessop's opinion was also invited on the alternative proposals for a Trent Canal. This was effectively dismissed by his stating that:
"If the Canals already described were wholly out of the question this might be the next best thing for Derby; but for any other Purpose I think it ineligible. I have Reason for believing that few Boats will use the Line parallel to the Trent, if they are not compelled to do so; for as the Trent Navigation is generally as good above Nottingham as below, the Boat be deprived of the Use of their Sails (which frequently enable them to move with more Expedition and Facility than they can upon any Canal obstructed by Locks and Guinea and a Half per Voyage extraordinary into the bargain."Jessop's recommendations were accepted in their entirety both by Outram and the proprietors. A railway would be constructed from Little Eaton to the collieries instead of a canal; adjustments would also be made to the Swarkestone line and its connection with the Trent & Mersey Canal. Additionally, a short length of canal would be built to join with the Trent from the latter, just above Swarkestone Bridge. This was apparently intended to link with a possible canal and railway to quarries and limeworks at Breedon, on the south side of the river, the route for which Jessop had surveyed during 1787.
Outram now proposed a scheme which would reduce his original estimate considerably. A broad canal would be built from Derby to Little Eaton, with railways to run from there to Smithy Houses and Smalley Mill. The railways would replace the canal section of six locks which had originally been planned. Also, instead of the canal crossing over the Derwent by an aqueduct, Outram now preferred an unusual, but simpler and cheaper, method. Vessels would lock into and out of the river, the depth of which would be controlled by a weir. This alteration alone reduced the estimate by £4,000.
The revised designs adopted for the Derby Canal and its railways were a marked improvement on Outram's original plan, with such costly features as the Derwent aqueduct and the steeply inclined Denby branch canal. The petition to Parliament for the scheme (referred to as the Swarkestone Canal) was ready for presentation on 2 February, 1793. The bill's subsequent passage involved but one division as to whether or not it was to be read a second time. It survived by 62 votes to 50 and this spelt the end of the Trent Canal proposals. The passing of the Derby Canal Act took place on 17 April, and the granting of Royal Assent on 7 May, 1793.
After acquiring their Act, the first meeting of the committee of proprietors was held on 6 July, 1793. Outram had been appointed engineer on 11 May and was already at work directing excavations for the canal and preparing for brick manufacture. The committee approved and George Wootton was made superintendent of works at £150 per annum.
Much of the earthmoving and bridge building seems to have been contracted out on a labour only basis and Wootton was thus expected to oversee his site supervisors and to visit all sectors of the works at least twice weekly. He also had to arrange provision of materials, organise transport for the contractors, control daywork gangs, keep a close watch on site security and to prevent trespass.
His was a daunting task but, wisely, work was planned methodically. It began on the Little Eaton branch and railway, after which it continued on to the Sandiacre line and finally, the crossing of the Derwent and the line to the Trent at Swarkestone. William White was appointed book keeper and paid £105 for yet another onerous array of duties which included measuring the excavations and all tradesmen's work, then authorising their payments (a modern day quantity surveyor), also making up wages for direct labour gangs and keeping accounts for the entire enterprise.
In the final designs for the Derby Canal, two lines radiated from Derby, where the Derwent was crossed through a pound, 300 ft long, created by the Long Bridge weir. A wooden causeway was built on timber piles adjacent to the latter to serve as a towpath.
The Derby to Swarkestone line was 5.1/2 miles long. From the river, it fell through the Pegg's flood lock into a short pound, passing over and beyond a cast iron aqueduct in the Holmes before leading into Gandy's wharf. The canal then rose through Day's lock into the summit level which was nearly 4 miles long. The waterway proceeded east of Osmaston, falling through 12 ft at Shelton & Fullen's locks, before it joined the Trent & Mersey Canal near Swarkestone Bridge. Beyond this, a short length led down through three locks to the River Trent. This section soon fell into disuse, its original purpose unfulfilled.
The Derby to Sandiacre branch was just over nine miles in length from White Bear lock, which lifted the canal from the Long Bridge weir pound to the same level as that of the summit level of the Swarkestone line. A short cut led off the branch, rising through the Phoenix lock into a navigable pound of the River Derwent above St Michael's weir, and downstream of St Mary's bridge. Boats could continue from there along the river to the Darley Mill, about 1.1/4 miles to the north.
The Little Eaton branch turned off from the Sandiacre branch about half a mile from the river crossing, but the main line continued for about eight miles, falling 29 ft through two locks at Borrowash, and by another pair close to the junction with the Erewash Canal. The Little Eaton branch was three miles long and rose 17 ft through four locks, terminating at the wharf in Little Eaton from where the railway (or gangway as this became known locally) began.
The canal was designed as a broad navigation throughout; the channel was excavated 44 ft wide at the top, reducing to 24 ft at the bottom, the depth being 5 ft, except for the 1.3/4 miles long summit pound of the Little Eaton branch, which was 6 ft deep to act as a reservoir. The locks were 90 ft long and 15 ft wide at the top, battered down to 14 ft 6 in. at the base, although the maximum size of boat normally using the waterway was 72 ft by 14 ft, with a draft between 3 ft and 3 ft 8 in.
Water was obtained from the Derwent and its tributaries, but mill owners and other industrial users insisted on severe restrictions. The canal levels were designed such that water could be admitted from the river only through the Phoenix lock and this was permitted for a period of 24 hours from 8pm every Saturday evening, when the factories were closed. If this proved insufficient for the weekly operation, then those lock gates could be opened for four hours on Thursday evenings. Similar restraints were placed on the water supplies into the summit level of the Little Eaton branch, which were also derived from the River Derwent or from some of the watercourses flowing into it.
Farey observed that by 1806 the canal was fed through the Little Eaton branch from the Bottle Brook and also by a feeder channel nearly a mile in length and 13 or 14 ft deep in places, which led from an old dam across the Derwent below Duffield Bridge. He stated (but apparently in error) that inflows then were limited to '4 hours on Sundays and Thursday evenings'. He clearly felt that any controls were unreasonable at that time because there 'generally is such a profusion of water' in the river in Derby. Farey made no mention of the flows admitted through Phoenix lock; this must have become the principal feeder for the canal as the demand for water power by industry declined in later years, and the restrictions on the canal company were relaxed.
Supplies for the Swarkestone branch were provided through a watertight culvert which was built as an inverted siphon through the Long Bridge weir. This connected the Sandiacre line, just above White Bear lock, with the Swarkestone line above Day's lock. The water surfaces were at the same level at these points. The Derby Canal Act referred to a 'proper cast metal pipe' which was to be installed for this purpose, but during repairs to the weir in the 1970s, the conduit was exposed and found to be a rectangular passage, measuring approximately 3 ft high by 2 ft wide, and formed entirely in the stone of the weir's foundations (it had also been breached in 1958 when water discharged under quite high pressure).) The culvert extended on each side of the river and ran along, and under, the towpaths to discharge into the canal, either through sluices or over side weirs. The total length of the conduit was stated by Farey to be a quarter of a mile.
The cast iron aqueduct which carried the canal across the Mill Fleam at the Holmes is believed to be the second of its kind to be built during the canal era. Until that time, aqueducts were supported by stone arches, so semicircular arches could be used to cross a deep valley, whereas a segmental arch of large radius might be preferred where headroom below it was very limited. There is, however, a limit below which the masonry may become unstable and collapse. In these cases, several flat arches of short span are preferable, although such structures may obstruct flow when used for river crossings, and thus create water pressures on the upstream face which threaten their structural stability.
For situations where headroom below an aqueduct is severely restricted, such as at the Holmes, the best choice is for a structure with a horizontal soffit, and this explains Outram's design of a prefabricated iron trough for this crossing.
Almost certainly the components for the Holmes aqueduct were cast at the Butterley works and transported to the site for assembly. The finished aqueduct was a neat trough, simply supported at each end on low stone abutments. Accurate measurements of the aqueduct do not seem to have been recorded prior to its demolition during town centre developments in 1971, It is believed that the trough was 15 ft 6 in. wide, 5 ft 8 in. deep and approximately 40 ft 6 in. long. Each wall unit was made up from four flanged and gussetted plates, 1.1/4 in. thick, bolted together to resemble the voussoirs of a stone arch.
The aqueduct soon proved to be grossly under designed even when completed.
Remedial works followed a disaster and it is likely that the aperture was closed with timber and puddle clay, in the hope that this would prove sufficient. Nevertheless, the proprietors must have felt some unease about the condition of this important structure; in 1810 they ordered that waste materials lying by the aqueduct had to be removed immediately and instructions were later issued that boats hauled through the aqueduct must not strike the sides of the trough, on pain of a fine of £5! (£185 at today's prices).
In 1812, further failure occurred and it was ordered that 'the iron aqueduct in the Holmes be immediately repaired with deal baulks'. Estimates were sought 'for building a stone aqueduct and bridge in the Holmes'. Drawings and estimates were provided but an engineer's inspection showed that the remedial works were holding and were not in any immediate danger of giving way. The committee seemed satisfied and in fact the structure survived until October, 1930 when the manager reported that the flooring had finally collapsed and had been replaced by a local contractor at a cost of £220! Timber piles were apparently driven at intervals into the bed of the stream and these were bridged with a timber platform sealed with puddle clay. These crude measures seemed effective enough for the remaining years of the life of the canal, makeshift though they appear to have been.
Work on the Little Eaton branch proceeded rapidly and the railway was finished to Denby by May, 1795, the first boatloads of coal from Drury's pits at Denby being delivered to Derby on 11 May and there distributed for the benefit of the poor. The Sandiacre line was also finished by the end of the month, including the Phoenix lock, through which essential water supplies were admitted into the canal system from the River Derwent.
It was only then, in early June 1795, that work started in earnest on the Swarkestone branch, beginning with the setting out of the section across the Holmes and the location of the Long Bridge weir. Progress was rapid because by 18 February, 1796 it was reported that 'the weir across the River Derwent and the aqueduct in the Holmes being finished, there remains little to be done' ere the three branches of the navigation are united'.
The entire canal was finished and fully operational by the end of June 1796, the final cost being about £100,000 (£6.34m at today's prices).
By the time of the second world war traffic had virtually ceased and closure was authorised but the War Ministry put a stop to it in case it was needed - in the event only £1 of tolls were recorded and in 1946 the last attempt at passage, to take coal to Spondon from the Erewash by Atlas & Vela, was prevented by the Derby Canal Company who chained the gates of Sandiacre Bottom Lock shut.
Despite protests organized by the Inland Waterways Association and their scheme, which at that time could have reopened the canal for £61,000 (£760,000 at today's prices), a warrant authorizing abandonment was issued on 3rd December 1964 by the Department of Transport in return for the sale of land for the M1 for 1/- (5p). Release of liability for maintenance was on 5th January 1965. The Derby Canal Company was formally wound up on 24th June 1974, following the disposal of all residual lands.
The canal today is, for the most part, not built on as the Local Authorities made a far reaching decision that someday it might re-open!
The line of the canal from B&Q at Spondon, into the City Centre, across the river and south to Wilmorton has been obliterated but a route has been identified which will enable the Sandiacre and Swarkestone arms to be linked. A route back to the city centre has been found, by returning the the River Derwent to a navigation from Wilmorton and then by a lock and weir system to the Council House and St Mary's Bridge. The River Derwent will be crossed at Wilmorton by means of a spectacular boat lift - The Derby Arm.
In the meantime the canal bed now has a multi-user trail on it and this will be retained when the canal opens.
Supported by Derby & Derbyshire Economic Partnership