Despite the current size and uses of it now, Nottingham's Canal has a history formed around industry.
If you look at the canal today, you will see a very different image to what you would have seen 200 years ago. By the 1790's, business was big for Nottingham's coalfields, providing plenty of money for the people living in the city. So when the country started to adopt the use of canals as a cheaper, more efficient way to transport goods, Nottingham joined in.
The canal was called for by the citizens of Nottingham to replace the slow and expensive roads which were being used to transport their coal. Led by Thomas Oldknow, John Morris and Henry Green, the proposition was to create a passage of water which could join the city with Langley Mill and the Cromford Canal. The work was completed by 1796 and allowed Nottingham to become a bigger part of the busy coal trading business.
When opened, Nottingham's canal was 15 miles long and possed 20 locks, although the majority of these were gathered together in Wollaton. Part of the canals expanse became the 'Beeston Cut' which was used to bypass a trickier part of River Trent in order to get to Lenton. This was actually an artificial canal which then joined the Nottingham Canal. At this junction, a toll was applied and a chain stretched across it to enforce this toll. In the present day, it is one of the only fully surviving area of the canal to remain.
1818 saw a disaster which could arguably have kickstarted the decline of the canal. One of the boatmen around the canal threw a hot coal onto some gunpowder as a joke, "expecting a minor flash", instead he caused an explosion which damaged several streets and killed 10 people, as well as destroying the warehouse used by the canal company. In history that followed, many other businesses would take over the running of the canal, mainly revolving around the railways.
By 1937 a stretch of the canal was abandoned from Lenton to Langley Mill. By this point the canal had slipped into decline and was no longer the industrial trade route of choice for the city. A major factor in the decline was the taking over of the canal (amongst other canals) by railway businesses. Time after time the managing companies were bought out and the canal traded off. Once in the hands of Great Northern Railway, a company which disliked canals in favour of promoting the railways, Nottingham's canal was more or less left to fend for itself. This did not help matters since the coal traders had begun to favour the railways themselves due to the costly tolls of the canal. Despite lasting longer than most canals, after the war the Lenton to Langley stretch was filled in completely and canal stopped existing as a trade route.
Luckily the canal is not gone though and parts of it do still exist. Furthermore there is a whole trail which follows the canal and lists all of the bridges which go over it, number by number. The canal is used widely for leisure activities now, many cyclists and runners use it as a peaceful and tranquil place to be. There is even, as mentioned in an earlier post, an entire community of people which live and travel on the canal.
It is no longer at it's busiest peak, but now serves a different purpose, one which despite being a complete contrast to it's original purpose, plays an ideal role in a busy city. The canal is now the tranquil hidden secret of a city which is often too busy to even remember its presence.
The canal was called for by the citizens of Nottingham to replace the slow and expensive roads which were being used to transport their coal. Led by Thomas Oldknow, John Morris and Henry Green, the proposition was to create a passage of water which could join the city with Langley Mill and the Cromford Canal. The work was completed by 1796 and allowed Nottingham to become a bigger part of the busy coal trading business.
When opened, Nottingham's canal was 15 miles long and possed 20 locks, although the majority of these were gathered together in Wollaton. Part of the canals expanse became the 'Beeston Cut' which was used to bypass a trickier part of River Trent in order to get to Lenton. This was actually an artificial canal which then joined the Nottingham Canal. At this junction, a toll was applied and a chain stretched across it to enforce this toll. In the present day, it is one of the only fully surviving area of the canal to remain.
1818 saw a disaster which could arguably have kickstarted the decline of the canal. One of the boatmen around the canal threw a hot coal onto some gunpowder as a joke, "expecting a minor flash", instead he caused an explosion which damaged several streets and killed 10 people, as well as destroying the warehouse used by the canal company. In history that followed, many other businesses would take over the running of the canal, mainly revolving around the railways.
By 1937 a stretch of the canal was abandoned from Lenton to Langley Mill. By this point the canal had slipped into decline and was no longer the industrial trade route of choice for the city. A major factor in the decline was the taking over of the canal (amongst other canals) by railway businesses. Time after time the managing companies were bought out and the canal traded off. Once in the hands of Great Northern Railway, a company which disliked canals in favour of promoting the railways, Nottingham's canal was more or less left to fend for itself. This did not help matters since the coal traders had begun to favour the railways themselves due to the costly tolls of the canal. Despite lasting longer than most canals, after the war the Lenton to Langley stretch was filled in completely and canal stopped existing as a trade route.
Luckily the canal is not gone though and parts of it do still exist. Furthermore there is a whole trail which follows the canal and lists all of the bridges which go over it, number by number. The canal is used widely for leisure activities now, many cyclists and runners use it as a peaceful and tranquil place to be. There is even, as mentioned in an earlier post, an entire community of people which live and travel on the canal.
It is no longer at it's busiest peak, but now serves a different purpose, one which despite being a complete contrast to it's original purpose, plays an ideal role in a busy city. The canal is now the tranquil hidden secret of a city which is often too busy to even remember its presence.