Spending a morning with the Friends of the Cromford Canal

Between Langley Mill and Jacksdale, work is currently being carried out by volunteers to extend an existing canal to follow its historic route.

The ‘Friends of the Cromford Canal’ charity has the mission of promoting and restoring the eponymous canal. As part of this nearly 150 volunteers give their time to join work parties, crew the charity’s trip boat, and advise on specialist projects.

However, the canal is currently disconnected from the national network after its prior abandonment in 1969 - but following a long road of planning which commenced in 2016, work is now progressing on the Beggarlee extension to reconnect it to the Erewash canal.

The extension near Langley Mill will see the canal pass under a former colliery railway bridge underneath the A610, allowing it to pass the road without disruption.

John Guyler is one of the volunteers with the charity, and is also responsible for tallying up the number of work hours that have been put in annually across the charity’s projects.

When looking at the wider benefits of the Beggarlee extension, John said: “One advantage of this section, when it’s finished, is there will be a tow path which goes alongside the side of the canal and up to Stoney Lane.

“At the moment, there is no way of cycling or walking through to Stoney Lane apart from a long detour along Cromford Road… which is a very fast road.

“So there’ll be that. And a few years ago we had a chap say if we put this section in, he would be able to get to Nottingham in under an hour, on his bike - so following the route of the old Nottingham canal and straight into the city."

John also spoke of the difficulty in obtaining planning permission, taking three years to obtain approval.

The site where the Beggarlee extension is taking place is on the border between two county councils (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire), as well as two district councils (Amber Valley and Broxtowe).

Although the approval was granted in August 2020, work is ongoing after commencement last year.

Currently, the main focus of the work parties at Beggarlee is clearing and extending the nearby floodplain to compensate for the land which will be used once the canal is built.

Chris Martin, a volunteer who operates a chainsaw, said: “The public, when we’re working around in other places, are all saying thank you so much - you’re doing a brilliant job. That helps [with motivation].

“I volunteer with numerous groups all round Derbyshire, and all round the county as well from South Wales up to Newcastle.

“I volunteer with the railways, the canal, the tramways, schools, different community groups all round, pretty much every day of the week.”

The charity is encouraging anyone to lend a hand, and up to September 2023, the combined total of volunteer time reached 3,420 hours.

You can find out more by visiting https://www.cromfordcanal.org/. The Beggarlee extension work parties go out every Wednesday.

Ben Mellor