Editing Chesterfield Canal (section)

===Operation===
As built, the canal was almost {{convert|46|mi|km}} long, being {{convert|25|mi|km}} from the Trent to Worksop with a rise of {{convert|95|ft|m}}. From Worksop to the eastern portal of Norwood Tunnel it was {{convert|6.1|mi|km}} with a further {{convert|145|ft|m}} rise. From there to Chesterfield it was a further {{convert|13.9|mi|km}} with a fall of {{convert|73|ft|m}} followed by a rise of {{convert|40|ft|m}}. There were 65 locks in all, with two tunnels: a short {{convert|154|yd|m|adj=on}} tunnel near Gringley Beacon,{{sfn |Cumberlidge |2009 |p=99}}<ref name=cftmap>''Chesterfield Canal map and elevations'', Chesterfield Canal Society</ref> and the major {{convert|2884|yd|m|adj=on}} long Norwood Tunnel.{{efn|The length of the tunnel was quoted as {{convert|2850|yd|m}} when the tunnel opened, and although modern sources often quote the length as {{convert|3102|yd|m}}, there is no evidence that it was subsequently altered.{{sfn| Hadfield |1970 |p=35}} There is wide divergence across publications, but using grid references for the tunnel portals, the Institution of Civil Engineers calculated the length as {{convert|2884|yd|m}}{{sfn |Skempton |2002 |p=736}}}} At the time of construction, Norwood Tunnel was the second longest canal [[tunnel]] in Britain, exceeded only by another of Brindley's tunnels, that at [[Harecastle Tunnel|Harecastle]] on the [[Trent and Mersey Canal]].{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |p=24}} The canal was a typical Brindley contour canal, following the contours to avoid costly cuttings and embankments, which resulted in a less than direct route in places.

In late 1775, the company had decided to build a branch, which left the canal between Renishaw and Staveley, and ran generally southwards for about {{convert|1|mi|km}} to the turnpike road at Norbriggs. This may have been to help with transport to Chesterfield, until the main line was completed, but in 1777, the company leased Norbriggs Colliery. Henshall supervised its operation, and transport of coal to the branch canal was improved by the provision of a "Newcastle Rail Road" in 1778, which used wooden rails. The company pulled out of running the mine in 1797, when they advertised it to be let.{{sfn |Hadfield |1970 |pp=35–36}} Water supply was initially by a reservoir at Pebley, which was later supplemented by reservoirs at Harthill, Woodall and Killamarsh. Near Worksop, a private branch was built to serve the Lady Lee quarry, which ran for about {{convert|0.75|mi|km}}, while at Netherthorpe, a branch connected to the East Inkersall tramroad, which served pits near the [[Adelphi Canal]].{{sfn |Hadfield |1970 |p=36}} A gasworks was later built at the junction, and while the 1877 Ordnance Survey map shows a short stub of the branch, connecting to the Seymour and Speedwell Branch railway, by 1898 a railway siding had replaced it, leaving just a basin at the junction to serve the gasworks.<ref>Ordnance Survey, 1:2,500 map, 1877 and 1898</ref> Another private branch was built in 1840, which crossed the Norbriggs road at Netherthorpe to serve the Speedwell Colliery. It was built by the Barrows, who also owned Staveley ironworks, but by 1860 had been replaced by a railway.{{sfn |Hadfield |1970 |p=198}}

By 1789, the company had spent a total of £152,400, raised through shares and by mortgages. Income for the year was £8,320, and after interest payments had been met, that left a net profit of £2,780, enabling them to make their first dividend payment of one per cent. 74,312 tons of traffic were carried that year, of which 42,380 tons were coal, with the rest consisting of lead, iron, stone, corn, lime, timber and sundries.{{sfn |Hadfield |1970 |p=36}} Dividends had risen to five per cent by 1795, were eight per cent the following year, and were six or seven per cent until at least 1836. There were several suggestions for links to the [[River Don Navigation]] or the [[Sheffield Canal]], the first in 1792 as part of the scheme to build a canal to Sheffield, and subsequently in 1824, as part of the Grand Commercial Canal, and in 1852, when a Sheffield and Chesterfield Junction Canal was proposed, but none of them moved past the planning stage.{{sfn |Hadfield |1970 |p=73}}