Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/194

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172
CROMFORD CANAL.

of this circuitous navigation, the islands and rocks to be avoided, the tacks and evolutions necessarily occasioned by contrary winds and lee-shores, and the certainty that the wind which favours vessels to the Mull of Cantire must be directly opposed when the point is doubled, the advantages arising to the navigation from the execution of this canal, and the safety and certainty with which the voyage through it can at all times be accomplished, must be much more largely appreciated, than from the mere consideration of the saving of time and distance.

CROMFORD CANAL.

29 George III. Cap. 74, Royal Assent 31st July, 1789.

30 George III. Cap. 56, Royal Assent 1st April, 1790.

THIS canal commences in the Erewash Canal, near Langley Bridge, in the county of Nottingham, and near its junction with the Nottingham Canal, from whence it pursues a northerly course, following the line of the River Erewash, which it crosses, but still proceeds along its banks to Codnor Park Iron Works, when it takes a westwardly course to Butterley Park, where it enters a tunnel of two thousand nine hundred and sixty-six yards in length, terminating a short distance west of Butterley Iron Works, under which it passes. From hence its course is by Buckland Bottom to Bull Bridge, where it crosses the River Amber by an aqueduct two hundred yards in length and 50 feet high. Near this place it enters a short tunnel, and from thence takes a north-westwardly direction, following the course of the Derwent, by Hepstandell Bridge, a mile beyond which, at Lea Hurst, it enters another short tunnel, and at a little distance further crosses the last-mentioned river by an aqueduct two hundred yards long and 30 feet high.

The span of the principal arch of the Derwent Aqueduct, through which the river flows, is 80 feet. From this place it is about a mile and three-quarters to the wharf at Cromford, where the canal terminates. Within half a mile of Cromford it is joined by the Cromford and High Peak Railway, now in execution. Near the Derwent Aqueduct there is a branch a quarter of a mile in length, extending towards Lea Bridge; and at the Bull Bridge Aqueduct it is joined by a railway a mile and a quarter in length,