Restoration feature

As we once again use the reduction in WRG work to take a wider look at projects,

Restoration Feature: When the Chesterfield Society (now the Chesterfield Canal Trust) was launched in 1976 with the aim of restoring The restoration back-story: “Starting the derelict 20 miles west of (the at the beginning” is a subject that’s come up 26 miles from there to the Trent having regularly in these article: it would be really already been rescued from falling into an nice if groups launching a new canal restora- unnavigable state by the activities of the tion scheme could actually begin work where & Worksop Boat Club in the 1960s) it the derelict canal branches leaves the navi- must have seemed like this was an ideal case gable network, and work their way along it for “starting at the beginning”. The first opening up sections as they go. But some- derelict , Morse Lock just west of times it doesn’t work out that way: they have Worksop town centre, could be restored, to settle for working wherever they can in the followed by a couple more locks to get to the early days, in the hope that as the project first restoration ‘destination’, the village of progresses they can gradually start to link up Rhodesia, before continuing with the increas- the restored lengths in a more logical way. ingly steep climb to the next village, , and on up towards Norwood . Sure, the 2893- yard tunnel itself would be likely to be a sticking point for some time, given its more-or-less com- plete destruction by coal mining and associated subsidence, but for the first six miles to that point it looked very much like a “start at the beginning” restoration. The Trust talked to the canal’s then owners the former British Water- ways (since transformed into the Canal & River Trust), published a document called The Route to Rhodesia, set up a trip-boat on an isolated length of the summit level

Tim Lewis as a fund-raiser and source of London WRG carrying out chamber clearance at Wheeldon publicity, secured an agreement Mill Lock 2 in 1991 and (below) the restored lock recently that no developments on the route (such as the new Worksop bypass road) would be allowed to be put any more obstructions in the way of future restoration of this length, and looked forward to starting by reopening Morse Lock. But as so often is the case in the not-terribly-logical seeming world of canal restoration plan- ning, the Chesterfield turned out to be yet another where rather than start from the connection to the navigable network, it made Martin Ludgate Martin page 10 Chesterfield Canal we feature a restoration that’s down to its last eight miles - but they’re tricky ones

more sense to begin with an isolated length refusal meant no work happened here for which wasn’t going to be connected up for the first 20 years of the Trust’s existence. many years. Only in this case (unlike, for But on the far side of the Norwood example, the Grantham or Cromford ) Tunnel in , it was a different mat- it wasn’t technical problems dealing with ter. Never mind that the canal there was in major obstructions of the route that made it much worse condition, a length in difficult to simply start at the beginning; it had recently been filled in and used to build was down to the impossibility of getting any an estate of 17 new houses, the route had kind of agreement from to been sold off to various owners, mining allow volunteers to work on restoring Morse subsidence had damaged some lengths, road Lock. And with no sources of funding avail- bridges had been replaced by flat crossings, able to get it done professionally, BW’s flat and it was threatened by the Staveley / Chesterfield Canal Length: 46 miles (12 miles restored, 8 miles left to restore) Locks: originally 65 (2 added, more needed) Date closed: between 1907 (end of through traffic, collapsed) and 1961 (officially abandoned) The Chesterfield Canal, opened in 1777, ran for 46 miles and 65 locks from the at West Stockwith via Retford and Worksop to Chesterfield. The first six locks were 14ft wide allowing Trent barges to reach Retford; the remainder, including the steep climb to Norwood Tunnel, descent to Killamarsh and final climb to Chesterfield were all built for 7ft-beam narrow boats. The canal was suc- cessful, carrying coal, stone and metals from the mines and quarries near its western River Trent lengths. The arrival of the railways provided competition for the canal (and led to to the Humber it being diverted in places to accommodate the new lines) but it continued in use until a collapse caused by mining subsidence closed Norwood Tunnel in 1907. W Stockwith Some trade remained on the eastern lengths until the 1950s, while the remainder fell derelict. In the 1960s it was threatened with closure but the Stockwith to Worksop length was saved thanks to a campaign by Retford and Worksop Boat Club Staveley to Worksop to Kiveton Drakeholes River Trent Chesterfield restored and reopened in Tunnel to Nottingham restored: 6 2002: 6 miles 31 locks miles 6 locks (inlcuding 1 extra added) (including 1 Norwood extra added) Tunnel Kiveton Sawmills narrows Morse work site Killamarsh Lock

Hollingwood Retford Lock Worksop Renishaw West Stockwith Kiveton to Staveley to Worksop unnavigable ‘missing link’ Staveley saved from closure including current restora- in 1960s: 26 miles Tapton Staveley tion sites: 8 miles 14 locks 16 locks Lock Town Basin (orginally), diversions and Lock Chesterfield needed at Killamarsh and Norwood Tunnel page 11 bypass plans which would block it in five places. Crucially, having been sold off it was no longer within British Water- ways’ remit - so they couldn’t stop the Trust from working on it. The final five mile length from Staveley to Chesterfield was still used to supply water to industry, and had therefore survived in rather better condition - and in 1987 it was acquired by Derbyshire Council. This wasn’t with any idea of restoring it - it was more to do with stopping it getting Darren Piotrowicz in the way of the bypass The new Staveley Town Lock: one of numerous concrete pours plans. Indeed, even the (above) during construction and (below) in use at a boat festival Canal Trust didn’t initially see reopening of this length as a possibility, but it fairly soon changed its views and began support- ing the restoration of this length - initially by cam- paigning (a petition raised 14,000 signatures) to get the bypass plans changed, then by beginning practical restoration work at Tapton Lock, the very last one at the Chesterfield End (so much for “starting at the beginning”!) Completion of the lock in 1990 was followed by the remaining four locks on Darren Piotrowicz this section - with WRG support, CCT’s vol- it will make full provision for the canal where unteers restored Wheeldon Mill, Bluebank it crosses. and locks, while a new Dixon But meanwhile things were moving at Lock was built by a combination of contrac- last on the British Waterways length east of tors and volunteers as the old lock needed to Norwood Tunnel as a result of successful bids be demolished for opencast coalmining. for external funding. Thanks to support from Three bridges were rebuilt, and this length sources including Derelict Land Grants from reopened in 2002. the UK governemnt and the EU RECHAR Oh, and in case you’re wondering what fund ( for support to ex-mining areas), Morse happened with the Staveley / Brimington Lock was at last restored in 1996, followed bypass plans... well, 33 years after - by the remaining 29 locks (plus a new one shire bought the canal to ease the passage added to combat subsidence) and six miles of the new road (and something like 90 of channel - and the canal reopened through years since it was first proposed in the to Norwood Tunnel’s eastern portal at 1930s), it still hasn’t been built (apart from a in 2002. short section around Staveley which crosses Since then the volunteers have contin- the canal on a new bridge). But if it ever is, ued eastwards from Hollingwood Lock to the page 12 newly built Staveley Town Basin, and on the eight most difficult miles to restore... from there via the new Staveley Town Lock - The eastern 450 metres of Norwood added to lower the canal to get it under a Tunnel is in decent condition, but the rest is moribund (but in theory not abandoned) well and truly trashed. But a start has al- railway line - to the point where only about ready been made on a diversionary route eight miles of the canal remain to be re- which will climb out of the tunnel through stored. And those last eight miles have al- new locks and run over the top of the hill. ready seen some attention - not only in Some lengths of dry channel have been dug, terms of restoration working to chip away at plus some basins excavated which will one that missing link (as you’ll see below) but day be a marina but for now are used as also in dealing with the unexpected and fishing lakes. At the other end of the tunnel unwelcome arrival of the HS2 railway plans, the Norwood lock flight (a spectacularly which we’ve covered in a separate panel. steep descent via one staircase of four locks and three of three locks each) is largely Where are we at now? As already intact and restorable (albeit the set of four described, what was a 26 mile navigable locks is in poor condition), as is the length length from the Trent to Worksop has now below them. But then comes the missing grown to become a 32 mile length from the section where the houses in Killamarsh are Trent to Kiveton; and at the other end of the built on the line: possible bypass routes have canal there are around six miles continously been identified, but will involve dropping navigable from Staveley to Chesterfield, down something like 60ft to Nethermoor where some excavation has been carried out Lake and then climbing back up again to on a new terminus basin on an ex-industrial rejoin the original route on the other side of site which will be the centrepiece for an Killamarsh. The fallback approach to this urban regeneration scheme. In between are would be two new flights of maybe eight Chesterfield Canal and HS2

As originally announced around 2012, the north eastern branch of the HS2 railway would have followed the Rother Valley from near Staveley to Killamarsh, obliterating the But the canal isn’t entirely free canal, undoing a lot of good work by restor- of HS2 blight. Firstly the new ers and making reopening much harder. railway will still need to cross the However following a re-think of plans canal once, near the west end of for serving Sheffield (plus lots of objections Norwood Tunnel. Here, as explained from canal supporters) the route was diverted overleaf, the Trust already needs further east, greatly reducing its impact on the to divert the canal; the railway adds canal restoration. Unfortunately by this point another unwelcome dimension to the it had already blighted the canal for long problem. Secondly, there still needs to enough to lose what had looked like a good be access to an HS2 maintenance depot chance of a successful bid being built at Staveley. HS2 Ltd have for major Lottery failed to give the canal restorers plans for funding. the access line (making it difficult to plan (continued right) the restoration), and their latest master- stroke is to put in a formal objection to CCT’s planning application to restore the rest of the canal in Chesterfield borough. However this seems like a final bit of haggling - and meanwhile there are now suggestions that the north east arm of To London HS2 might be shelved indefinitely. page 13 locks each; but alternatives are under con- So what next? The CCT volunteer team sideration [see panel opposite]. Two houses is currently just finishing off work on would need to be demolished for the diver- Staveley Town Lock, the new pound below it sion, but the Canal Trust already owns them and the railway crossing, before moving to and rents them out in the meantime for a start work on the next focus of volunteer useful income. attention which will be the Renishaw length. From the other side of Killamarsh, the This is part of the section being sup- canal is basically still in existence and with ported by an IWA Waterways in Progress no major obstructions for most of the way to grant (see article, page 7) to re-line and Staveley - and a fair amount of work has complete this part-rebuilt length of canal, already been done on this length including and the volunteers will be carrying out some partial reinstatement of a length of channel of the work. In addition a new footbridge at Renishaw. Some bridges still exist, several (Miner’s Crossing) is to be built and the will need to be reinstated (including three channel extended as far as the Chesterfield road crossings), a length of channel towards Borough Council boundary. the Staveley end of his section has disap- Meanwhile a mile or so south of there, peared where it runs across farm fields, and the Puddlebank section is likely to see atten- the major embankment (known as the tion from professional contractors - subject Puddlebank) over the Doe Lee Stream will to a planning application recently submitted, need some serious earthworks to bring it and to the canal being included in the Town back to full height - plus a new aqueduct Investment Plan for Staveley (a bid to the over the stream. In addition, where the Government Towns Fund which will hopefully restored canal currently ends, having come up with a chunk of the £11m or so dropped down the new Staveley Town Lock needed for the Puddlebank and associated and passed through the remains of the origi- structures). If all goes well, construction nal railway bridge, a second new lock will could start in 2021. need to be built to bring the canal back up And in Chesterfield it’s hoped that to original level. increasing developmenat around the new terminus will provide the incentive for some progress on the basin itself, from being basi- cally a hole in the ground to something more like a . And then what? As you might expect from the above, the emphasis for the fol- lowing couple of years is likely to be largely on filling in the remaining gap between Possible design for a boat lift which could replace one new lock flight at Killamarsh the Renishaw page 14 length and Staveley, to complete a two and a half mile exten- Killamarsh and Norwood plans sion of the restored Chesterfield-Staveley Proposed Planned diversion via Kiveton Navigable section, and bring the Rother Link Nethermoor Lake and Waters to the Trent remaining ‘missing new locks (and lift?) link’ down to under six miles. But there’s also Eastern 450m some hope of of tunnel to progress in the not be restored Norwood too distant future on Locks to be the Kiveton to restored Remainder of Killamarsh section. It To Staveley and tunnel to be would be good to Chesterfield 17 houses built on bypassed extend the navigable canal in Killamarsh length, initially by reopening the The two most serious obstructions to reopening the canal are Norwood restorable first 450m Tunnel and the houses built on the line in Killamarsh - and CCT has been of Norwood Tunnel looking at options for getting around them. and building the new The tunnel has been largely destroyed by mining over all but its locks needed to raise easternmost length; the idea is to restore this section then emerge into a the canal to ground cutting and climb through three new locks to ground level. (Much of the level at Kiveton Wa- tunnel wasn’t very deep underground; partly it seems to have been built to ters (the marina / placate the local landowner rather than out of engineering necessity.) In fishing lakes) - but fact the canal’s reservoirs are at a suitable height that they could supply unfortunately it’s a this higher summit level. But then further sets of new locks would be rather more expensive needed to climb over the higher part of the hill above the west end of the project than the tunnel - and that would mean backpumping water supplies. So the Trust is National Lottery Herit- looking at whether a short new tunnel instead of the extra locks (albeit far age Fund (seen as a more expensive in capital costs) might pay for itself over (say) the next potential source of 100 years by avoiding water pumping costs, maintenance (and regular gate funding) would be replacement) on the new locks, and HS2 and M1 crossing issues. able to support, so it’s Meanwhile at Killamarsh the plan for many years has been to build probably going to be a diversion which would descend via a flight of between six and eight a few years before it locks to enter Nethermoor Lake, then another similar flight to climb back can happen. But in out of the lake to rejoin the original line on the far side of the houses the meantime the which obstruct the route. But recently the possibility of a boat lift replac- Canal Trust hopes to ing the flight of locks on the eastern (Norwood) side has been consid- have discussions with ered: not only is there the usual ‘’ argument that a landmark Highways structure and attraction might be easier to fund (and bring in tourist about getting under income once open); there is the added benefit that it might reduce water the supply costs. which crosses over Both of these issues are very much still up for discussion. the top of the old tunnel - a farm underpass has been identi- includes a diversion with two new flights of fied as one possible way of getting the di- locks [or one and a boat lift - see panel verted canal through [but see also the panel above], but surely full reopening of the entire on this page], and to discuss other possible Chesterfield Canal can’t be too far away. heritage projects between there and And then, CCT can start work on the Killamarsh with NHLF once it reopens the Rother Link: a proposed new navigation currently closed Lottery funding application based on the River Rother running down the process. Rother Valley from Nethermoor Lake to the Get the canal to Killamarsh, and that Sheffield & Navigation near brings it down to the final three miles left to . But that’s another story... restore from there to Renishaw. OK, so it Martin Ludgate page 15