Out & About: Cromford Canal & High Peak Junction

With the snow still on the ground we thought a another local walk was on the cards. We were back up to full strength with Geoff having a day off last week (for good behaviour). We decided on Cromford canal which is only 15 minutes away up the A6.

Wharf buildings at the terminus of Cromford Canal

When we arrived about 8:00 there were no other cars in the car park and we had the place to ourselves. Part of the canal at the Wharf end was still frozen over.
It took an act of parliament in 1789 to get the money in place to build the Cromford Canal. The canal was over 23 km from Cromford to the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill with 14 locks to balance the water levels.

Alongside the canal we saw these wooden marking posts with numbers on, but just couldn't work out what they were. Later on Geoff spoke to a countryside warden and he told us they were just zone markers, and were just so any work done on the canal could be logged down for a particular area.

Geoff looking at one of the strange markers.

The Warehouse

There were one or two people about by this time and Rob & Ike just had to stand aside and let these 2 past, they did watch them for a while!!

There's loads of wildlife along here including the Little Grebe and Coot pictured below. We saw a water vole, but that was to quick to get a snap.

Little Grebe

Coot

We got to The High Peak Junction and had breakfast there. This is the site of the workshops for the Cromford & High Peak Railway and was built between 1826 and 1830 making it the 2nd oldest railway workshop in the world. The railway ran from Cromford Canal to the Peak Forest Canal in Whaley Bridge. There was also Sheep Pasture Incline which ran to Black Rocks on the hillside above.

Breakfast stop

Would you buy a used car from any of these?

While we were having breakfast there was a lot of activity on the water with this duck fight going on for some time.

Duck fight.

High Peak Junction with the start of the Sheep Pasture Incline through the arch.

we packed away and continued onto the Wharf Shed. This is where the railway line and canal came together for the transfer of materials.

The Wharf Shed built in 1850 to replace an earlier building.

The Leawood Pumphouse from the Wharf Shed

Wharf Shed

From the Wharf Shed we walked over the 1790 Wigwell aqueduct, with The Lengthmans Cottage at the far end. The Wigwell Aqueduct is 183 metres long and 9 metres high with three supporting arches. The engineer William Jessop supervised the construction in 1790, but a serious fault developed and he blamed the lime in the mortar which he had obtained from Crich. He rebuilt the structure to his own expense in 1793.