We penned up through Cranfleet Lock and had a nice cruise onward.
The fact that the Cranfleet Cut is man made can easily seen when looking along it's very straight length. It was built to bypass the adjacent shallows on the River Trent and was opened in 1797 allowing 40 ton barges to continue onward navigation./
The cooling towers and chimney of the Ratcliffe on Soar power station seem to pop up all over the area as the canals Trent and Mersey, Erewash and Cranfleet CutSoar, and rivers Trent and Soar meander around the region. It started production in 1968 and is scheduled for closure in 2025. At thew present it has the capacity to power over 2 million homes. In the foreground is the Trent Valley Sailing Club that looks to have a lovely position and good facilities. It also means that on a good weather weekend there are large numbers of boats milling about at this important junction and great care has to be taken as they career about the place at the mercy of the wind.
We were soon at Sawley Locks, as there are a parallel pair of them, although one was under repair. We saw that there was a voluntary keeper and duty so it was all done for us and we were soon on our way. We were getting very short of fuel at this stage and so moored up at the fuel pump outside the marina. It proved almost impossible to obtain fuel as you need to be registered and have an account etc etc. which turned out to be a good thing as it was extremely expensive anyway.
After the flood lock and the M1 motorway bridge is the more attractive bow string bridge that carries two water pipelines across, one 33" and the other 36". They come from the Derwent Valley Dams and transmit the water to Leicester. There is a footpath across to I believe. It was built in around 1936 I think.
The River Derwent comes in from the right in this photo and was navigable to Derby. The Trent comes in from the left, and straight on is the start of the Trent and Mersey Canal.
Looking to the left, up the Trent is the Long Horse Bridge. The original was wooden and installed at the time the Trent and Mersey canal was built. It served as a tow path to get the boats from the canal to the Trent. The original was replaced in 1932 by a concrete structure. However this was demolished in 2003 as it was not viable to repair it. Unfortunate various problems/delays then occurred and this replacement was eventually opened in 2011! This is also the way to enter Shardlow Marina and is navigable to Cavendish Bridge, or Wilden Ferry as it used to be known.
In the creation of the Grand Trunk Canal, that is now known as the Trent ans Mersey Canal Wilden Ferry was the name given as the termination. It was also the commencement of the Navigable waters of the Trent Navigation Co. The Trent was navigable to Burton on Trent (and a little beyond) at one time but this was under the auspices of Burton on Trent and using a lock at Castle Donnington. Unusually perhaps there were bridges here before a ferry. There is evidence of wooden bridges been here between 1100's and early 1300's. floods and the shifting gravel banks meant they were hard to keep standing and in 1310 they were replaced by a ferry. This was replaced by a bridge in 1760. It was a toll bridge and was financed by shares. It was called Cavendish Bridge after William Cavendish 4th Duke of Devonshire who was the patron. There was a little argument over this as many others had invested.
The five arch bridge lasted until 1947 when an arch and the central span was washed away. It was replaced by a bailey bridge until 1957 when the modern bridge was opened. The toll house lasted until the old bridge abutments were removed. There are some toll charges carved on slate that have been preserved and sited near the new bridge.
Before the opening of the Trent and Mersey Soresby and Flack carrying company operated from Cavendish Bridge up to Burton on Trent and elsewhere, but with the new canal opening in 1777 bought land in the Shardlow, but keeping the old operation going for a while.
This map from 1882 shows the old bridge with the rout of the new bridge and old warehouse that still survives as flats. In 1815 a brewery was bought here and greatly expanded by the Fletcher family. It is known that they had a coal wharf for the brewery. The brewery expanded greatly over the years and had its own maltings. They even had their own gas works later, as can be seen by the gasometers on site. They sold the brewery and some of the houses etc to George Trussel Eaton who continued to develop the porter brewery and appears to have been well liked by workers and customers as every year he put on a lavish festival for workers, locals and customers, numbering up to 200 with food and drink and amusements. He sold the brewery to Offiler's of Derby who eventually closed it down in 1923. There is a conservation zone in Cavendish Bridge that includes buildings from this era. I would recommend that if you haven't been up to the bridge previously it is worth investigating and the river is nice and wide for turning.
We didn't divert up to Cavendish Bridge as we had done so last year, but instead headed straight over the junction and penned up Derwent Mouth Lock and back on the the canal system. I always make a p[oint of taking a picture of Bridge No.1 on the Trent and Mersey as it is named after us, Porter's Bridge. I have had a look and it seems that there was a Mark Porter lived in the are and was a property owner. He married Elizabeth Hancock in 1798 and died in 1843. I may dig a little deeper one day to see if it is him and what he did. A Mark Porter Junior was apprenticed to a rope maker in Derby and it seems it was the right family as the first son was always called Mark.
We had intended to stop in Shardlow but there was little room on the visitor moorings. We decided to bend the rules and moor up on the end of the moorings where a less than 1/4 of our length would be extending beyond the marker post. However a very mouthy women from the permanently moored boat opposite took objection and gave a very colourful tirade about us and our like. I was for ignoring her but very wisely Helen suggested we wanted a quiet life and should continue.
I only mention this as I now find that she was moored on one of the several wharfs that was owned by Soresby and Flack, carriers who had moved here from Wilden Ferry/Cavendish Bridge. This is Soresby's warehouse and dock yard today.
James Soresby moved to Wilden Ferry in 1758, probably to join an uncle Edward who built the last ferry before the bridge in 1702 from Eyam. They bought land on either side of the proposed canal when the news of the route came through. They seemed to have run wide beam boats mainly of various sizes for the different trades, to Gainsborough, Newark, Nottingham and also some narrow boats. In 1805 they were still trading from Cavendish Bridge and had established warehouses at Swarkstone and Chesterfield in Manchester and Morledge in Derby and had agents all over the system. James senior died in 1790 but his son James Junior continued the business and his sister Elizabeth married his partner William Flack..
From this plan from the Shardlow Heritage website shows how large the Soresby and Flack enterprise was in the town.
No.19. was Soresby's yard and is where the bumptious woman was moored.
No.20 was The Firs the family home for many years and built in the 1790's.
No.21 was their warehouse and dockyard.
No.26 was Soresby and Flack's grain warehouse and later a corn mill. It is now where the outdoor model railway lives!
No.29 Soresby's warehouse with office and stabling.
No.30 was the family home built in 1770 and is now a restaurant (or was until a fire in 2008. It has since had planning for conversion to a five bedroom house but is still derelict).
No. 35 may have been built by the Soresby's and was certainly tenanted by them at the start of the inland port and until around 1850.
No.7 they also tenanted this small area by Idle Bridge in the early days. The bridge is so named as boats waited in this area for work.
It seems that after the death of William Flack in 1831 the two sons of James Soresby junior took over and changed the name of the business in 1837 to J and W Soresby. However they seem to have got out of acrrying by 1860 and appeared to have sold at least ten of their vessels to Joshua Fellows.
When ever I pass these beautiful buildings a feel sure that one day somebody will bring them back to life. I just hope that they remain standing until then. They were built in the 1780's I think and were leased by Soresby's in the early years.
1 comment:
A lovely write up about Shardlow and the families who lived here.
Post a Comment