INTRODUCTION

Shardlow is one of the best-preserved inland canal ports in the country. It is a fascinating place to explore, still busy with boats, now used for leisure and not commerce. The boats range from traditional narrow boats with brightly painted liveries, in summer frequently be-decked with pretty boxes filled with flowers, to pleasure craft of all shapes and sizes. Boat people tend to be friendly and are usually more than happy to exchange a wave or a word or two with visitors, which adds to the enjoyment of a visit. All this activity is good news for the canal-side pubs, which team with customers in the summer and at the weekend.

A walk along the canal towpath brings you into contact with many of the old buildings of the Canal Age. They are now mainly used for different purposes, but are still largely intact. The massive warehouses that once stored ale, cheese, coal, cotton, iron, lead, malt, pottery, salt, and the wharves where goods were loaded and unloaded remain. These are where the skilled artisans worked: the boat builders and repairers, the chandlers, rope-makers, and blacksmiths.

WATERWAY TRANSPORT

Waterway traffic has always been important to the village. In the second half of the 17th century, Wilden Ferry, near Shardlow, had become the head of Trent navigation. This part of the river was leased from the Cokes of Melbourne Hall by the Forsbrooke family. They tried to monopolise river traffic between the ferry and Nottingham. They were so successful that Shardlow Hall was built out of the proceeds. In 1760, the Cavendish Bridge replaced the ferry. On the Derbyshire side is a toll board listing the crossing charges, ranging from two shillings and sixpence for coaches to a half penny for soldiers.

The use of river transport goes back much further than the days of the Wilden Ferry. In 1999, spring floods at Shardlow quarry exposed a twelve-foot-long oak boat in the bed of a former side channel of the River Trent. The boat, probably dating from the middle Bronze Age, about 1300 BC, still carried some of its quarried stone cargo. Archaeologists who examined the findings described their discovery as ‘spectacular.’ A small remnant and other discovery details are available for inspection at the Heritage Centre.

INDUSTRY

Industry’s rapid growth in the second part of the 18th century required an improved and inexpensive transportation system to be sustained. Much of the development was inland, so the coastal route was usually out of the question. Rivers, often obstructed by weirs and fish pools, could rarely be used for long-distance haulage. The growth of turnpikes improved roads, but they were not suitable for moving large volumes of goods. Packhorses were still relied on in Derbyshire to transport goods, slowly and laboriously. The time was ripe for a new form of efficient transportation of heavy goods.

JAMES BRINDLEY

A solution to the transportation problem came when James Brindley from Derbyshire astounded other engineers who laughed at his ultimately successful proposal to find an economical way of transporting coal from the Duke of Bridgewater’s estate at Worsley to Manchester.

He did this by building an aqueduct over the River Irwell. It stood on three great stone arches, 17 feet up, with a towpath alongside the canal for the horses to pull the boats the 900 yards to the other side of the river. Brindley’s inventions continued, and his most celebrated was the Trent and Mersey Canal, known as the Grand Trunk. It connected canal systems throughout the country. After it opened, Shardlow became an important inland port.

RAILWAYS

The coming of the railways in the mid-1800s brought a decline in Shardlow’s prosperity. No longer was the canal busy with long-distance haulage. The warehouses were put to other uses, and the area began to decay. A limited amount of canal trade continued until the 1950s, when the last grain delivery was made. The growth of the leisure boat industry in recent years has once again returned Shardlow to its former vibrancy, with a splendid new marina and boat builders’ yard completed in 1975, which is always busy with boats.

THE VILLAGE

Industrial buildings are now recognised as a fundamental part of our heritage, and Derbyshire is fortunate to have such an important survivor of the Canal Age within its boundaries. The Clock Warehouse, combining a pub and restaurant, is a spectacular restoration of its original use, where goods were transferred from river barges to canal boats.

On the main A6, on the corner of Wilne Lane, is The Navigation Inn, which once served river traffic and is now a popular stopping point for visitors. Broughton House, on the other side of Wilne Lane, once belonged to one of the wealthy merchants, John Sutton, although he had never lived there. He built it to spoil the view of his business rivals—the Soresby family who lived at The Lady in Grey, a short distance further down Wilne Lane.