Cromford Railway Aqueduct

High Peak Railway Aqueduct (south)

Cromford Canal

Courtesy of Wickepedia - the only photo from the vantage point of the live track.

During restoration @1973

This third Aqueduct on the Cromford is of yet another design. This later addition, built by Stephenson in 1850 to cross the newly built High Peak railway line, is a single span cast iron trough which continues to hold water, more or less. At the time of our visit in Feb 2009, it has been de-watered and stanked off for repairs, exposing a most impressive plug hole!

Captain Ahab's own collection

An unremarkable aqueduct but look out for the top of the balustrade, made of a surplus section if railway line. Whilst not spectacular, this aqueduct has also achieved ancient monument status.

Railway Aqueduct (north)
The structure originally had a twin at the northern portal of the same railway tunnel, carrying the half mile Nightingale Arm over the track. Today the gap is spanned by a narrow footbridge, but the resting point for either end of the trough can clearly be seen in the brick abutments. Sadly, I can find no photographic records of this aqueduct, which was probably removed in the 1930's.

Wigwell Aqueduct

Wigwell Aqueduct (aka Derwent Aqueduct)

Cromford Canal

You can't accuse William Jessop of a lack of variety. He seemed to see relish variety and after the earthwork with stone arches of Amber Aqueduct, he tackled the crossing of the River Derwent in great style using Crich Limestone.

Captain's own collection

He started work on Wigwell Aqueduct in 1790 but by 1793 his part completed structure started to fail and serious cracks were found, which were attributed to the use of a lime mortar from a quarry in nearby Crich. The mortar didn't ever set and, at his own expense, he rebuilt the structure using iron cramps, which continue to hold the masonry together to this day.

Jessop was a man at the forefront of his profession, having previously been John Smeaton's deputy and was keen to establish his reputation as an engineer, hence his willingness to remedy the defects on the Cromford aqueducts at his own expense. Whilst the Wignwell Aqueduct was being rebuilt cargo was carried via tramway on a temporary bridge. His own account of this failure places the blame squarely on his own shoulders:

"The failure happened for want of a sufficient strength in the front walls and I blame no one but myself for the consequence, having often seen profusion of expense by an unnecessary consumption of materials."

The aqueduct has an overall length of 182.9m, carrying the northern end on the Cromford Canal 38ft above the level of the River Derwent, using three arches. The central elliptical span in an impressive 73m with smaller accommodation arches at either end.

Bullbridge Aqueduct

Bullbridge Aqueduct

Cromford Canal
4 June 2009

An aqueduct notable by its absence!

The aqueduct was built in 1794 and was mainly an earth embankment about 30 feet high pierced by three arches, one for the river, a tributary of the Derwent, one as an accommodation arch for the houses in what has become the village of Bull Bridge and one for the main road to Nottingham. Its official name is, or rather was, the Amber Aqueduct and was a four story jumble of communication links, with the canal at the top, then a railway over a road which ran over the river!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Bull_bridge.jpg

The structure was originally built by William Jessop and itsuffered a partial failure before it was opened. William Jessop took responsibility and personally funded £650 of repairs.

The Aqueduct section was 150 feet long and was originally contained within masonry walls, but when the railway line was added it was sleeved with a 150ft x 9ft x 6ft cassion, which was built and assembled at Butterley, and then floated down the canal and installed one night without interfering with the substantial volume of traffic still passing along the waterway.

www.nationalheritagecorridor.org.uk/pictures/aqua.jpg

The aqueduct was controlled by traffic lights, but trade ceased with the repeated collapses of the Butterley Tunnel in the early 1900's, and after a few decades of disuse it was finally demolished in 1968, making way for the multi track railway line we see today. Rumour has it that the iron trough lingered in a storage yard for a number of years but was finally sold for scrap. Unusually, the remaining section of the embankment is Grade 2 listed, which must have presented a problem for the two houses built on top of it in recent years.

The absence of this aqueduct is the single most significant obstacle in reconnecting the Cromford Canal to the Erewash, a few miles to the south east.