The Cromford Canal Disused Section

Lost Derbyshire Part 2 - Cromford Canal Disused Section
We are back in the Amber Valley on the Cromford Canal between Ambergate and Butterley Tunnel for our next installment of lost history exploring.
The Cromford Canal is mostly cared for by it's custodians 'Friends of Cromford Canal'. Already in water towards Cromford, High Peak Junction and Leawood, there are ambitious canal restoration plans further affield.
We start at the end of the in water section as it enters Ambergate. Once the site of George Stephensons limeworks. Straight away we encounter the site of the Hag Tunnel, long burried but we can see a shaft by the eastern portal. Upon exiting the tunnel we see the site of the former Ambergate Stevenson Dye Works. Closed in 2006 and now a building site for new housing.
As we continue along the towpath, the historic canal features come thick and fast. We pass what used to be Amber Whare - the junction with the Butterley Gangroad. Claimed to be the worlds oldest railway. Little remains now at the Wharfe from a canal perspective, but we can see the aquaduct over Drovers Lane.
The tunnel
Next up is the site of the Bullbridge Aquaduct. Again, fully demolished but we can get an idea of the scale of the crossing as it spanned the River Amber, Midland Railway and the A610 below.
Sawmills Gauging Stop, Buckland Hollow Tunnel and Stavehimvaley bridge come and go as we continue our walk. The canal then enters are more rural setting as it approahes towards Hatshay and the Hartshay Wharfe - once a location where coal was carried on a railway before being loaded onto the barges.
After negotiating the A610, which rudely interrupts the flow of the towpath, we descend on the the final approach to the Butterley Tunnel.
The tunnel collapsed in 1900, which accelreated the demise of the canal, which due to the railways was already in decline. We can see the western portal, which was added upon construction of the A38 some years ago.
There are plans to reinstate more of the canal we see on this video to compliment the existing Cromford Canal north of Ambergate.
Friends of Cromford Canal - www.cromfordcanal.org/

[@Olleetheowl]

Great Video. Very interesting and informative. 😀

[@artvanwag3257]

Nice to see Gary is still growing scrap vans in his Garden, Wonder if my Combo van is still there.. 😄

[@andrewmarriott4033]

That remains of the canal boat been there for as long as I can remember I used to walk that section every day when I had dogs and still regular now👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Andrew. Decades worth of history rotting away there.

[@dafdaffer1]

Hi, great video, one of my favorite walks as a local lad, most of the surrounding town has no idea of this lovely little stretch of canal, my friends and i dub it as the secret canal, i was told years ago by someone who's granddad used to "leg it" through the tunnel that the hut was for the leggers as they would work a section of canal through the tunnel but not stay with the boat and return with the next boat, the tunnel was very long and it would have been back breaking work.

[@WobblyRunner]

Hardy men back then. 👍it really is a beautiful section of canal/disused canal isn't it. I love the variety on the route.

[@ffrancrogowski2192]

It's great that there's till some parts of the canal that show the existence of it, with water appearing still in places as well as tunnels and bridges. I find it very interesting, also knowing that there's a disused railway in the area too. Many thanks.

[@WobblyRunner]

Several disused railways 🙂👍. And that particular one is the subject of part 3 😉

[@ffrancrogowski2192]

I'll be looking at that shortly, and looking forward to it.

[@WobblyRunner]

@@ffrancrogowski2192 should be out next weekend👍😉

[@mitchb77]

My work mate lived on the caravan site up the road from there! In our lunch break we magnet fished that part of the canal opposite the building site!

[@WobblyRunner]

👍🙂

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

Another walk through glorious countryside with plenty to see, very interesting indeed. I do love it when you come across a building, it really makes the history come alive. I've done a bit of research re 'starve him valley' and it appears a woman once lost her dog licence due to mistreating her dog. It's not known, however, if the dog was a 'him' or if she starved it, but apparently that is true. I'll collect my research fee when I see you!!!!

[@WobblyRunner]

Brilliant detective work. I presumed it would have some sad history behind it. Nicely done 👍🙂. Cheques in the post 😄

[@TheDoctorhuw]

Did it in the other direction on my bike about 4 years ago, carrying the bike up and down the steps across the A610 was the hardest bit, did the Pinxton branch too, some interesting things to see. thanks for the vid

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Doctorhuw. Those a610 steps are a nuisance aren't they. You'd like to think these days they'd have to put in one of those pipe underpass tunnels to allow the footpath to continue.

[@mrbetamax1969]

Ya did it again offspring said is Gordon in it? no but there's a horse so ever platform in the house had a veiw 👍 Cheers lads sunny at last.

[@WobblyRunner]

Haha friendly horses

[@eggy77]

Looks like they've got a massive job on restoring that canal. I can't see it helping with the lack of foresight regarding those new developments either. Another great video, you're definitely getting about a bit.

[@WobblyRunner]

Oh yeah it makes Chesterfield Canal Restoration seem simple. Like a free for all and still eating away at it.

[@paulcharlton4788]

@@WobblyRunner another problem they will have is that much of the canal from Ambergate towards the pumping station is an SSSI so there is little chance of it ever being navigable. Then they need to bypass the tunnel with a load of locks (the tunnel is collapsed and was out of gauge even when it was new) and then the final problem is that the canal doesn't go anywhere that enough people would want to visit to make it viable financially (boaters avoid large numbers of locks to go to a dead end canal such as at Cromford).

[@WobblyRunner]

@@paulcharlton4788 massive job.

[@66oggy]

A shame we lost Bullbridge Aqueduct, demolished as late as 1968.

[@WobblyRunner]

It was a great looking structure. An era when pulling down everything and anything was rife. I think it would have been a bit of a bottleneck on the road these days though.

[@adriannorthcott873]

Another very interesting video.Your nautical terminology made me smile 😃

[@WobblyRunner]

😄 id be next to useless in control of that stick thing...rudder I think it is 😄

[@andrewdavis9223]

It makes you wonder who put all these steps in all over the place 🤔

[@kevanparker908]

Pronouncing Hartshay Its Harts....hay, but locals tend to say hart...sea. If you go down Butterley Hill and park up then walk down the side of the reservoir you come to the over flow for the reservoir just down from there is the original portal to the Butterley tunnel the canal then goes to the tunnel under the A38 road.

[@dafdaffer1]

hi Kev, i thought the original portal is only visible inside the tunnel, after the A38 duct you come to the railway extension then after that the original portal. unless I am wrong and would love to know more.

[@kevanparker908]

@@dafdaffer1 I think I am right however I am now 72 and have a heart problem so I don't think I am going down to check if I am right?

[@dafdaffer1]

@@kevanparker908 haha no I wouldn't bother Matey.

[@mitchb77]

What map are you using at 2.10 mate?

[@WobblyRunner]

I downloaded it from the Cromford Canal page if I remember correctly. Let me double check

[@WobblyRunner]

www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/blog/49m3/

[@simonballard6413]

Lovely video in a lovely county. But please talk in MILES, not wretched kilometers!

[@WobblyRunner]

You're right. I do prefer miles. Working in km when running has corrupted my mind.

[@jonsnow6741]

they reckon 90 million . it would have been better spent heer than building that crap tent in london for the millenium . Then there is the lottery money as it would bring tourism and money into the area giving it a boost for everyone . Most of the lotto projects are funded for 3/5 years then they close . this would last lifetimes .

[@WobblyRunner]

Money as always. Hard work getting funds for a canal up north