History of the Cromford Canal

Cromford Canal

On completion in 1794, the canal stretched 14.5 miles from Langley Mill, where it joined the Erewash Canal, to Cromford, where a pioneering tramway reached deep into the Peak District.

The Cromford was a success right from the start, with mills and mines all using it to despatch their produce to the industrial Midlands and London. Other canals sought their share of the action, but the most serious competition came from the railways which arrived in the 1830s. Nonetheless, business continued to boom with shareholder dividends reaching an all time high of 28% in the early 1840s.

The canal company was realistic, and saw that the battle with the railways would eventually be lost. Its proprietors sold out to a railway company, and traffic continued to decline. In 1893, subsidence closed the Butterly Tunnel: repairs took four years, after which the traffic lost did not return. 1900 saw a further collapse, and this time the closure was permanent. Further decline of the canal ensued, and by 1944 the entire route was abandoned. Ironically, the railway followed the canal, and it too was abandoned in 1967.

In 1975 Derbyshire County Council bought the northernmost six miles of the canal, from Ambergate to Cromford. The towpath has since been cleaned up and is now open as a designated walk. The southern reaches of this section are completely weeded up and very shallow, but the northern part, near Cromford, has been fully restored and turned into a popular linear country park. The section includes many of the best sites on the canal including Wigwell Aqueduct, Leawood Pumping Station, High Peak Junction and Cromford Basin. Although the water is still shallow, it is possible to navigate the canal in this area.