Canals. CHAP. 5. and Mr. Benjamin Outram, besides Mr. Dadford, Mr. Sheasby and Mr. E. Fletcher. The canal was opened in 1793. The tonnage allowed to be taken in this canal, is not to exceed 1d. per ton per mile, for coals, coke and limestone, and 14d. per ton per mile for all other goods that have not passed from the Erewash canal; 2d. per ton per mile for all goods that have so passed; 3d. per ton extra on all goods (except coals, coke and limestone) passing from or to this canal and the Erewash canal; 1s. per ton extra, on coals navigated between the Amber aqueduct and Cromford, or within two miles east of that aqueduct, and passing towards it. The tonnage upon this canal was in the year 1828, as follows, viz.: 230,000 tons of coal or coke; 24,000 tons of lime and limestone; 12,000 tons of gritstone; 24,000 tons of timber, slate, &c.; 17,000 tons of iron, ironstone and lead; 18,000 tons of corn, groceries, &c. making in the whole 325,000 tons; and the dividend to the sha.-owners was £19. upon the original £100. shares. These shares are now worth about £400. each.—In 1810 the dividend per share was £10.-The canal has been completed about thirty-four years. By Act of Parliament, the Company was authorised to raise £46,000. in £100. shares; and to borrow £20,000. on interest or mortgage of their tolls. The total cost of making the canal was little less than £80,000. which obliged the Company to call upon the original shareowners for a surplus of £20. Pinxton Tonnage. The rail-road from Pinxton to Mansfield is connected with the Cromford canal. It was completed about the year 1819. The amount of tonnage from 1819 to 1826 is stated to have been as follows, viz.: Ashby-de-la- Corn and malt....... Clay and minium 7,595 11 3,548 15 713 0 making a total of 294,679 tons.-In the year 1826, the amount of the tonnage-dues was £12,707. 3s. and a dividend of £3. on each share was paid in May, 1826. The Ashby-de-la-Zouch canal, obtained the authority of an Act of Parliament in the year 1795. The Company were permitted to raise £200,000. in £100. shares; and it is stated, that the late Marquess of Hastings took eighty shares, and expended £30,000. in erecting an iron-furnace on its banks at Warren-hill. The general direction of this canal and its rail-way extension, passes into the counties of Warwick, Leicester and Derby; its greatest elevation being about two hundred and ninety feet above the highwater mark, at Gainsborough. Its principal objects are the carrying of limestone from Ticknall and Cloud's-hill, and coals from different collieries CHAP. 5. in the Ashby-de-la-Zouch field. The commencement of this canal is at Canals. Marston-bridge, near Bedworth, in the Coventry canal; and at Willesley wharf, about a mile north of Measham, the rail-way commences, and proceeds to the lime-works on the east side of Ticknall. From Willesley wharf, a branch proceeds past Donisthorpe colliery to the pits on AshbyWolds. From the tunnel-house, one mile north of Ashby, there is a railway branch, and from Measham another rail-way branch extends about a thousand yards northward.-From Marston-bridge to Willesley wharf, the length is twenty-eight miles and three quarters without any locks, and the Donisthorpe branch is also level, and the whole forms, together with the summit pound of the Coventry canal and its branches, and the adjoining pound of the Oxford canal, the longest level piece of artificial water in Great Britain or perhaps in Europe, being seventy-five miles and three quarters in length! It is at the same time a singular circumstance, that this level line of water crosses the Grand ridge without a tunnel. On the eastern side of the Grand ridge, the ridges of the Mease branch out,* and through these ridges, which are somewhat higher than the Grand ridge near Bedworth, the line is tunnelled. Through the tunnel there are six hundred yards of single rail-way; but from Willesley wharf to the entrance of the tunnel, the rail-way is laid double. This canal is wide and deep and is adapted for boats of sixty tons burden. At Willesley wharf, boats formed of wrought-iron plates, rivetted together, are sometimes used in the carriage of limestone. The whole extent of this line, with its branches, is about fifty miles. The tonnage-rate varies on different kinds of articles from 2d. to åd. per ton per mile. Canal. The Act of Parliament for the Derby canal was obtained in the year Derby 1793. The Company was authorised to raise £90,000. in £100. shares, on which the dividends are never to exceed £8. per cent. annually. When £4000. should be accumulated as a stock for contingencies, it was ordered that the tolls should be reduced. Separate rates of tonnage are limited by the Act, on different parts of the canal and its branches. Manures are to pass free, and puncheonst or clogs of wood for the adjacent coal pits; and it was also enacted, that if the Derby and Mansfield turnpike-road tolls, should be reduced below £4. per cent. on their debt, the Company was to make them up to that sum; and it was further enacted, that five thousand tons of coals, annually, should be allowed to pass to Derby, toll free, for the use of the poor: and that three members of the corporation, with the same number of the share-owners, should be chosen to distribute such coals. The engineer for this canal was Mr. Benjamin Outram, and it was executed with great skill and despatch.-It commences on the Trent and Mersey canal, north of the Swarkstone bridge, and proceeding to the town of Derby, it branches off to Sandiacre, where it terminates in the Erewash canal. The general object of this navigation is the supply of Derby with coals, building-stone, gypsum and other articles, and for manufactured * See pages 6 and 9. Almost throughout Derbyshire, the principal appropriation of the under-wood is to puncheons or supporters for the coal pits: for which purpose the underwood should stand from twenty-one to twenty-eight years. CHAP. 5. Canals. Adelphi anal. Wood-Eaves Trent Navigation. goods, for cheese and other agricultural purposes. It is also convenient for conveying the Peak limestone into the south-eastern parts of the county. -From Derby a short branch of this canal extends to Little Eaton, with two arms to the quarries on Little Eaton common. On the north-east of Derby, a short cut and a lock serve to conduct boats into the pound of the river above the silk-mill dam, near St. Mary's bridge; and there the river is navigable to Darley mill. Towards the south of the town there is a large wear, above which the canal-boats are towed across the river, by means of the towing-bridge mentioned at page 257. The Derwent was formerly navigable downwards from this wear to the Trent, and on the construction of the Derby canal, a connexion was entered upon with the Derwent Navigation Company; but this was speedily dissolved, and the Derby Canal Company payed £40,000. as a compensation to the members of the Derwent Navigation, which the canal had rendered entirely useless. Over the Markeaton brook, on the south-east side of Derby, in the Morledge, the canal is conveyed in a low, cast-iron trough or aqueduct, erected in 1795. On Sinfin Moor there is a small aqueduct and a high and long embankment, and at Chaddesden, Ockbrook and Risley brooks, there are small aqueducts.*-At St. Alkmund's in Derby there are large warehouses under which the boats pass to load and unload.-This canal is forty-four feet wide at top, twenty-four at bottom, and five feet deep. The summit pound of the Little Eaton branch, for about a mile and three quarters in length, is cut six feet deep, in order to act as a reservoir. A market-boat, decked over, with seats and a fire-place for the accommodation of passengers, starts from Swarkstone every Friday morning, to carry market-people to Derby; and leaves Derby at four o'clock for Swarkstone. The Adelphi canal is a small private navigation, constructed about the year 1799, as an appendage to Mr. Ebenezer Smith's iron-furnace, at Long Duckmanton. It is serviceable in conveying goods from the Duckmanton-works to Stavely, in their way to the Chesterfield canal; and it is also intended to act as a reservoir for the use of the several steam-engines at the works. The water which supplies it is almost entirely lifted from the coal-mines. The small boats used upon it do not carry more than thirty hundred weight each. The Wood-Eaves canal was constructed about the year 1802. It is a private navigation of about ten furlongs in extent, belonging to the cottonmills at Fenny Bentley. There are private rail-ways in various parts of the county, generally connecting the colliery or iron-works with the canals. The only natural navigation remaining to this county is a short part of the lower Trent, to the extent of about five miles, from the mouth of the From the Trent and Mersey canal to the stop-lock at Cockpit-hill wharf, Derby, five miles and a half, is a rise of twelve feet, by two locks; thence across the Markeaton or Morledge brook - and the Derwent (through the lower dam) to the Darley-mill branch, and the warehouses in St. Alkmund, a quarter of a mile is level; thence to the Little Eaton branch, three furlongs, level; thence to the Erewash canal, eight miles and five furlongs, with a fall of twenty-nine feet, by four locks. The detached part of three furlongs has a fall with three locks, to the Trent. The Little Eaton branch, three miles, with a rise of seventeen feet, by four locks.—The lengths on the railway extension are as follows: from the wharf at Little Eaton, to the branches into Little Eaton common quarries, five furlongs; thence to the Denby-hall branch, four miles and six furlongs ; thence to Roby west-field colliery, five furlongs. Erewash river to Wilden ferry in Shardlow. In 1761, the celebrated engineer, Mr. John Smeaton, examined this part and seven miles further down the Trent, and found that in dry seasons there was not more than eight inches depth of water over the shoals, and that it was impossible for boats to pass, except by the aid of flushes of water let down for that purpose at King's Mills (the lowest on the Trent) and from Little Wilne mill on the Derwent. To remedy this inconvenience, a side cut of ten miles was proposed to be made, and an Act of Parliament was obtained, but the plan has not been carried into effect. The gravel and other deposits are occasionally removed from the shoals by a sort of dredging-machine called a gravel plough, which consists of a large iron shovel, suspended between four large wheels and drawn by four horses. CHAP. 5. Trent Navi gation. With these roads and canals, the facilities of communication and of the Conveyance. interchange of commodities is great, so that, notwithstanding the irregularity of surface which distinguishes the northern part of the county, there are few parts of England where travellers or visitants, whether business or pleasure be their object, meet with more conveniencies. The intercourse with the south of England and with Kent and Essex is carried on chiefly by the London mail, which arrives in Derby at half past nine in the morning, and leaves that town at half past four in the afternoon. The same mail-coach proceeds onwards through Ashbourn, and thus carries on the communication with Manchester and Liverpool, the whole of the north-west of England, Glasgow and the south-west of Scotland, and with- Dublin and the north of Ireland.-With the south-west and west of England, including Bristol, Bath and the manufactories of Somersetshire, and with Wales and the south of Ireland, the intercourse is carried on by the Birmingham mail, which arrives in Derby every morning. By the Nottingham and York or northern mails, there are constant communications between this county with the north-eastern districts of England, with Edinburgh and the eastern parts of Scotland. There are also numerous stage-coaches, and cars to various towns within and beyond the county, which are enumerated with the time of their arrival and departure in the Directory portion of this work, where will also be found lists of carriers, vans, wagons and fly-wagons and of the canal-boats and fly-boats. Such are the means of carriage and of commercial communication within the county itself, and with other parts of the kingdom. The internal trade possesses the advantage of well-frequented fairs and markets. The fairs Fairs and are held at about four and twenty of the principal towns and villages. The Markets. cheese-fairs of Derby are much frequented by dealers and factors. There are also cheese-fairs at Chesterfield, Ashbourn and Chapel-en-le-Frith. Cattle-fairs are principally held in Derby, but there are also very considerable fairs for cattle in other parts of the county. Fairs in which horses and horned cattle are met with in great abundance are held at Ashbourn, where on St. Andrew's day particularly, horses continue to arrive from the neighbouring and even distant counties during the preceding week. Sheep, wool, &c. are found at most of these fairs in abundance. The most celebrated fairs for shows, ribands, toys, &c. commonly called holiday or gig fairs, are the Whitsun-Friday fair at Derby and the October fair at Newhaven.— Markets. CHAP. 5. There are in this county eight market towns which are well attended, and at Buxton, Belper and Cromford, markets have been established of a more modern date, the two last having been rendered necessary by the increasing population which the manufactories of Messrs. Strutt and Messrs. Arkwright drew to those places. Formerly there were markets held at Bolsover, Crich, Higham, Matlock, &c. but they are either much declined or wholly discontinued.-Auctions are conducted as in other parts of the country. Sales by ticket* are known chiefly among wood-dealers, who purchase the spring-wood of twenty-five years' growth, according to the ticketed value set upon it by professional wood-valuers, engaging to cut and clear it away by the Lady-day next following, and to pay the money in moieties, at the Midsummer and Christmas following the sale. Auctions. Circulating In what may be termed the external commerce of the county, it will not be supposed, that an inland district can boast of an equality with some of those busy and improving parts of the kingdom that lay upon the coast; yet, by means of the Trent and of the various canal navigations, it participates largely in the general trade and transit of commodities enjoyed by the kingdom at large. The principal circulating medium, until the recent Act of Parliament for suppressing the issue of one-pound-notes, was, together with the silver and copper coin of the realm, chiefly the promissory paper of resident bankers, who are distinguished and esteemed for their solidity and probity; and it has been remarked, that a decided preference was given, by the receivers of payment, to these notes of our local bankers, to those of the bank of England. The names of the bankers of the county, and of the bankers in London, on whom they usually draw, will be found in the Directory part of this work.-Silver tokens, purporting to be of one shilling value, issued by different manufacturers in Sheffield and other places, were, during the latter years of the last war, in considerable circulation; and this species of money yielded very slowly and reluctantly to the Acts of Parliament that were passed to suppress them. The Soho coinage of copper was also, during the same period, extensively circulated in all parts of the county, and always preferred to the old tower half-pence. During the seventeenth century, there were many tradesmen's copper tokens struck in the town of Derby; and those in the following list are still in the possession of William Bateman, esq. F.A.S. Rev. R. Simpson, F.R.S. &c. and Mr. John Swanwick. * Sales by ticket are in some parts of the county conducted in a very particular manner. They are thus described by Mr. Farey. "In Glossop the timber and wood is sold standing, as by that means the auction duty is avoided: but more commonly the sale is by ticket, the process of which was described to me by Mr. Matthew Ellison, agent to the Hon. Barnard Edward Howard. — The buyers and the vendor being assembled at a public house, the vendor puts a folded ticket, containing his price of the lot about to be sold, into a glass on the table; each of the buyers does the same, and then the vendor opens all the tickets but his own, and declares the name of the highest bidder, but not the amount of his offer: a second delivery of tickets by the buyer then takes place, and the name of the highest bidder amongst them is again declared; and then a third delivery, which, according to the practice about Glossop, decides the sale; unless on opening the vendor's ticket, none of the biddings come up to it, when the sale is void, unless the highest bidder, or the next or the following in succession, should agree to come up to the vendor's price in the ticket, the amount of which is however not declared, unless a disposition manifests itself among the buyers, to further advances." + I saw the toll collectors, on several roads, peremptorily refuse these still legal coins of the realm, and shut their gates against the traveller, until he produced a sixpence or shilling, or more probably a token for change. Farey, Vol. III, page 512. |