Editing Chesterfield Canal (section)

==Restoration==
[[Image:Norwood Tunnel Eastern Portal.jpg|thumb|left|The eastern portal of the Norwood Tunnel]]
Following the post-war Labour Government nationalisation of the railways and the canals, the Chesterfield Canal became the responsibility of the [[British Transport Commission]]. They were determined to close any canals that were not used to carry freight, and did not see any future in leisure use. By 1961, the canal had been formally closed, all requests to use it for leisure purposes were refused, and there were proposals for official [[Abandonment (legal)|abandonment]] of its entire length. Much of it was filled with rubbish and stagnant water, but despite this, Cliff Clarke, a businessman from South Yorkshire, mounted a campaign to save it. The British Transport Commission agreed to keep the canal open for two more years in 1962,{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |p=45}} although the lock gates from Worksop to Kiveton were removed, and the lock walls bulldozed, on the grounds of public safety. Clarke formed the Retford and Worksop (Chesterfield Canal) Boat Club soon afterwards, and it became a limited company in 1966, to cope with the growing membership.{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |p=46}} Unofficial work parties were organised, to clear locks and cut back vegetation and weed; they were unofficial because the British Transport Commission would not allow volunteers to work on their property.{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |p=47}} Such activity became slightly more collaborative when the canal became the responsibility of the [[British Waterways Board]]. Government policy changed following the publication of a White Paper entitled ''British Waterways: Recreation and Amenity'' in September 1967, and the canal was classified as a ''cruiseway'' between the Trent and Morse Lock, Worksop under the [[Transport Act 1968]], meaning that it would be maintained to a navigable standard for leisure use. The rest of the canal was classified as ''remainder''.{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |pp=48–49}}

By 1968, [[Waterway restoration|restoration]] efforts were sufficiently organised that the Chesterfield Canal was mentioned in the May edition of the ''Bulletin'', produced for members of the [[Inland Waterways Association]] (IWA) by the forerunners of the [[Waterway Recovery Group]].{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=68}} The [[Chesterfield Canal Trust|Chesterfield Canal Society]] was formed in September 1976, determined to restore the canal beyond Worksop, and in 1977 they organised a boat rally at Worksop to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the canal, in conjunction with the Worksop and Retford Boat Club. Bassetlaw District Council provided financial backing, and the event was held over four days, coinciding with the Queen's Silver Jubilee. Some 150 boats and over 21,000 people attended, with catering services, theatrical performances and exhibitions held on the Bracebridge showground. The Duke of Devonshire opened the festivities, and the Chesterfield Canal Society was formally launched, with a view to attracting support from anyone interested in the canal, rather than just from boaters.{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=98}}{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |p=51-52}}

Progress beyond Worksop moved forwards rapidly in 1995, when a Derelict Land Grant was obtained by Nottinghamshire County Council, and with additional funding from [[British Coal]], a £4.5 million scheme began to restore the canal between Worksop and the aqueduct over the [[River Ryton]] which forms the county boundary. Rotherham Borough Council were hoping to obtain similar grants for the section between the aqueduct and the Norwood Tunnel,{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=136}} but the funding came from the [[Heritage Lottery Fund]] and the regeneration agency [[English Partnerships]].<ref name=rotherham>{{cite web |url=https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/restoration-in-nottinghamshire-and-rotherham/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610121622/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/restoration-in-nottinghamshire-and-rotherham/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Restoration to date in Nottinghamshire and Rotherham |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=6 January 2018}}</ref> The complete project cost £19 million, which included an extra £971,000 received from the Heritage Lottery Fund,{{sfn |Squires |2008 |pp=153–154}} to allow detailed archaeological investigation of the Thorpe and Turnerwood lock flights to be undertaken.{{sfn |Falconer |2017 |p=54}} On 18 November 2002, the first boats in over 70 years ascended the Turnerwood flight.{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=158}} Thirty locks had been restored, from Morse Lock (49) near Worksop to Thorpe Top Treble Lock (20) near Thorpe Salvin. Three bridges had been rebuilt with navigable headroom, one over Tylden Road, the main access road into Rhodesia, an adjacent one that provided access to nearby cottages, and one which carried Shireoaks Common over the canal near to [[Shireoaks railway station]]. Just before Ryton Aqueduct, a new shallow lock named Boundary Lock (41a) had been required, due to widespread subsidence affecting the ground levels, and at Shireoaks, the former colliery loading basin had been turned into a marina.<ref name=rotherham/>

===Western section===
[[Image:ChesterfieldCanalMillGreenBridge.jpg|thumb|right|Mill Green Bridge was the head of navigation of the western section prior to the opening of Staveley Basin in early 2012.]]
Restoration had focused initially on the route east from [[Norwood Tunnel]] to Worksop, which presented relatively few physical obstacles to being restored to navigation. However, in practice progress had been slow, and attention turned to the section west of Norwood Tunnel, where much more damage had been done to the canal bed, with it being filled in and built over in many places. This included the construction of housing at Killamarsh in the 1970s, which went ahead despite protests. However, parts of the channel had survived remarkably well in places, as it had been used to supply water to the iron industry, and maintained by a team with a boat until the 1950s.{{sfn |Potter |2009 |pp=70–71}} The last few miles of the canal, from Chesterfield to Staveley, were in reasonable condition, although the towpath was overgrown and difficult to access, while much of the route was under threat from opencast coal mining and a planned bypass, which had first been proposed in 1927. Regular work parties began the process of restoration in 1988, organised by the Chesterfield Canal Society, and supplemented by volunteers from the Waterway Recovery Group periodically. Tapton lock was the first to be reopened, in 1990. [[Derbyshire County Council]] acquired the section of canal between Chesterfield and Staveley and secured derelict land grants to enable dredging and towpath maintenance to take place. A campaign to ensure that once all the coal had been extracted from the opencast mine, the canal would be reinstated was successful. Two lowered bridges had been rebuilt by June 2001, and Cow Lane Bridge followed in May 2002. Four more locks were restored, with the {{convert|5|mi|0|adj=on}} section from Chesterfield being reopened to navigation in 2002.{{sfn |Lower |2002 |pp=66–67}}

In a separate development, a private owner of a length of the canal near Boiley Farm, Killamarsh, obtained a Derelict Land Grant to enable him to restore around {{convert|550|yd|m}} of the channel in 1992.{{sfn |Squires |2008 |p=133}} Although used as fishing ponds, the work resulted in a navigable profile being re-established, and a water supply was obtained from a small unnamed brook, which feeds into the southern end of the ponds. An earth bund at the site of the former Gallas footbridge divides the channel into two ponds, and carries a public footpath.{{sfn |Coles |2013b |p=1}} In 1997, the [[Chesterfield Canal Trust]] was formed, as a limited company with charitable aims, and took over the assets of the Canal Society in 1998.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201028202557/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/ |archive-date=28 October 2020 |url-status=live |title=Chesterfield Canal |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=11 January 2018}}</ref>

A breach in the canal in March 2007, caused by the collapse of a culvert carrying the [[Tinkersick|Tinkersick Brook]] under the canal, forced temporary closure of all but the top pound above Tapton Lock for about six weeks.{{sfn |Lower |2007 |p=46}} Near the site of the former Renishaw Iron Foundry, which closed in 1992 and was subsequently redeveloped for housing, a length of canal was re-excavated in 2007–08. The work included the new Renishaw Foundry footbridge (18a), which connects the housing to green space and a play area on the bank of the canal, and deep piling where an embankment originally carried the canal over the Smithy Brook.{{sfn |Coles |2013a |pp=1–2}} The development of the site ceased in 2010, when there were issues with ownership of the land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/we-dig-em-and-then-we-fill-em-in/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713020212/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/we-dig-em-and-then-we-fill-em-in/ |archive-date=13 July 2018 |url-status=live |title=We dig 'em and then we fill 'em in |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |date=4 November 2010 |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref> Since then, there have been issues with vandalism, and the lack of a natural water supply has been a continuing problem.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-canal-clean-up-at-renishaw/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180713013110/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/chesterfield-canal-clean-up-at-renishaw/ |archive-date=13 July 2018 |url-status=live |title=Chesterfield Canal Clean Up at Renishaw |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |date=3 May 2014 |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref>

Over the winter of 2010–11, the Canal Trust obtained its first permanent base, when the lock house at Hollingwood Lock was renovated and a large extension added to the rear. The building, which is known as the Hollingwood Hub, was funded by a grant from Community Assets, part of the government's Office for Civil Society, and provides offices for the Trust, a meeting room and a coffee shop. The ecology of the area was improved by the planting of 450 trees, provided by the [[Woodland Trust]], in November 2011.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/hollingwood-lock-house/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610034348/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/hollingwood-lock-house/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Hollingwood Hub |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref>

The next big advance was the opening of some {{convert|660|yd|m}} of canal beyond Mill Green Bridge, and the construction of a new mooring basin at Staveley, which was completed in early 2012. Funding for the basin was provided by Derbyshire County Council with a grant from the East Midlands Development Agency, and the work which included the reclamation of the surrounding land, won an award from the Institute of Civil Engineers, given jointly to Derbyshire and the contractors NT Killingley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/staveley-town-basin/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610025809/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/gallery/photos/staveley-town-basin/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Staveley Town Basin and the Mill Green Link |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=4 January 2018}}</ref> The work was aided by a road-building scheme for a new Staveley Bypass, which enabled two bridges to be raised and a third to be built, all with sufficient clearance for navigation.{{sfn |Potter |2009 |p=71}}

===North from Staveley===
[[File:Staveley Basin 1898.jpg|thumb|left|A map of the canal at Staveley in 1898, showing the locations of the Mineral Line bridge and modern basin.]]
Progress beyond Staveley Basin was hampered by a railway bridge. The first bridge over the canal in this location was further to the east, and was erected in the 1850s, when the canal arm to Speedwell Colliery was filled in, to be converted to a railway. The Staveley Ironworks railway system was sold to the Midland Railway in the 1870s, who built a replacement line and bridge, to ease the sharpness of the curve. This area has suffered from subsidence, so when the canal was formally abandoned, the twin-track iron bow girder bridge was removed and the canal was filled in. A combination of the subsidence, and the use of a deep ballast base to enable tracks to be carried straight over any new bridge has reduced the available headroom by {{convert|2.25|m|ftin|order=flip}}. The solution adopted to overcome this was the construction of a dropped pound, with a new Staveley Town Lock (5a) immediately to the north of Staveley Basin to lower the level of the canal, and Railway Lock (5b) constructed just beyond the railway bridge. A syphon will maintain the water supply to the canal beyond the dropped pound.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/future-plans/what-are-the-plans-to-get-under-the-mineral-railway-at-lowgates/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930134400/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/future-plans/what-are-the-plans-to-get-under-the-mineral-railway-at-lowgates/ |archive-date=30 September 2020 |title=What are the plans to get under the Mineral Railway at Lowgates? |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref> Staveley Town Lock was completed just in time for the Inland Waterways Association National Trailboat Festival, which was held at Staveley over the bank holiday weekend in late May 2016.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.waterways.org.uk/news/view?id=269 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108175651/https://www.waterways.org.uk/news/view?id=269 |archive-date= 8 January 2018 |title=Staveley Town Lock opened just in time |publisher=IWA |date=1 June 2016 |access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref>

The first boat passed through the lock on 26 May, and it was officially opened on 28 May. However, once the festival was over, a clay bund had been reinstated above the lock by 16 June, and the pound below it drained, in order to allow work to continue on the weir and spillway which carries excess water back to the River Rother. Although the track on the mineral line has been removed, its route may be reused to provide access to a maintenance depot, for the [[High Speed 2]] (HS2) railway project. On 1 October 2017, the Trust received permission from [[Network Rail]] to investigate the bridge remains, and the infill was removed over the next few days.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/restoration/current-restoration-work-a/ |archive-url= |archive-date= |url-status= |title=Photographic record of current restoration work |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=29 June 2021}}</ref>

===Chesterfield Waterside===
[[Image:New Bridge on Chesterfield canal.jpeg|thumb|right| A new bridge under construction at Staveley Basin, to carry the A6192 link road over the new canal channel to Junction 29A of the M1.]]
The southern end of the canal in Chesterfield is being redeveloped as part of a £300&nbsp;million project called Chesterfield Waterside. This will provide housing and amenities in an area which is currently derelict land. The project involves the creation of a short length of new canal to create an island in the centre of the site, navigation being restored to a length of the river, and a new basin at the southern edge of the site. Funding for the canal work was provided by a grant of £500,000 from the East Midlands Development Agency.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Join the party – WRG is 40!|magazine=Waterways magazine|date=Summer 2010|issue=228|page=19|issn=0969-0654}}</ref> The basin was completed and was opened in October 2009, although it remains isolated from the River Rother, to which it will be connected by a lock, while a back-pumping facility will supply it with water. Outline planning permission for the whole site was granted on 15 March 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesterfield.gov.uk/default.aspx?CATID=660&CID=4941 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006182826/https://www.chesterfield.gov.uk/default.aspx?CATID=660&CID=4941 |archive-date=6 October 2011 |publisher=Chesterfield Borough Council|title=Chesterfield Waterside| access-date= 14 June 2010}}</ref> In April 2012, the project was awarded a £2.4&nbsp;million grant by the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership Board. The funding was for the connecting lock and the provision of sewers and access roads, to facilitate the subsequent development of the {{convert|62|acre|ha|adj=on}} site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waterwaysworld.com/3181 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215844/http://www.waterwaysworld.com/3181 |archive-date=3 March 2016 |title=Chesterfield Waterside gets £2.4m starter funding |publisher=Waterways World |date=18 April 2012|access-date=21 April 2012}}</ref>

===Closing the gap===
With the canal open from West Stockwith to the eastern portal of Norwood Tunnel, and from Chesterfield to Staveley, there were less than {{convert|9|mi|km}} left to be restored by 2017. Whereas most of the work so far had involved restoration of the existing channel, this section includes some significant engineering challenges, with completely new construction needed to bypass the housing estate in Killamarsh, built over the original line in the 1970s, and the replacement of Norwood Tunnel with an alternative route. The Chesterfield Canal Partnership, an association of local and regional authorities, including the Chesterfield Canal Trust and other interested parties, have produced detailed plans for all of the work required to reinstate the missing section.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/ |title=Home page |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=9 January 2018}}</ref>

In 2004, the engineers Jacobs-Babtie examined six possible routes for the canal through Killamarsh. Of these, two were reasonably feasible, and were named Central Line East and Central Line West.{{sfn |Killamarsh |2017 |pp=6–8}} At the time, the eastern route was felt to be the best option, and consultation with residents resulted in that route being included in the North East Derbyshire Local Plan. However, subsequent detailed design suggests that this may no longer be the best route.{{sfn |Killamarsh |2017 |p=10}} Redevelopment of the Tarran Bungalows site to the west of the village provided opportunities to reassess the western route, and it has gained support, as it would be more attractive for boaters, allowing them to access the village more readily. This route would also be considerably cheaper to construct that the eastern route.{{sfn |Killamarsh |2017 |pp=22–23,25}} Both routes drop down into Nethermoor Lake, part of the [[Rother Valley Country Park]] and will ascend from the far side to regain the original course.{{sfn |Killamarsh |2017 |p=10}}

It will not be possible to reopen the Norwood Tunnel, as several sections have collapsed, the National Coal Board filled in some sections to stabilise the land above it, and when the [[M1 motorway]] was built, the tunnel below it was injection grouted, to ensure there would not be a subsequent collapse. The engineers Arup considered options for this section in 2007, proposing a route running largely on the surface, and crossing the site of the Kiveton Park Colliery, which closed in 1994. It involved an extra six locks at the top of the Norwood flight of 13 locks, passing under the motorway by using a farm underpass, and then descending through another six new locks, to enter the final {{convert|460|yd|m}} of the tunnel.{{sfn |Coles |2010 |p=1}} In 2012 the UK Government's announcement of the preferred route for the [[High Speed 2|HS2]] rail line extension to Leeds indicated that the line would conflict with the planned restoration of the Canal in several places. The Chesterfield Canal Trust campaigned to have the needs of the Canal taken into account during the consultation process. The July 2017 announcement on the phase 2b route to be developed removed blight from the canal route.<ref>{{cite web|title=HS2 route announcement – Chesterfield Canal line is safe|url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/wp-canalsite/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HS2-route-announcement-Chesterfield-Canal-line-is-safe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033317/http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/wp-canalsite/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HS2-route-announcement-Chesterfield-Canal-line-is-safe.pdf |archive-date=1 December 2017 |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=24 November 2017}}</ref> This revised route for the HS2 railway resulted in other options being considered for the tunnel replacement route. One is for a short tunnel at the western end, starting at the existing western portal, but heading in a different direction. The tunnel would be some {{convert|660|yd|m}} long, passing under the route of HS2 and the M1 motorway, allowing HS2 to be constructed without interfering with navigation. The scheme would save the need to construct six locks, and engineers were assessing the cost of such a scheme in late 2017.{{sfn |Auton |2017 |pp=16–17}}

[[file:Trans Pennine Trail bridge installed.jpg|thumb|right|The Trans Pennine Trail bridge crossing the route of the canal at Staveley was installed in October 2024]]
In 2020, the Trust submitted a planning application covering reinstatement of the remaining {{convert|1.6|mi|km|adj=on}} section that lies within the borough of Chesterfield. HS2 opposed the application, on the basis that the two projects were incompatible, but in February 2021, an agreement was reached between the Trust and HS2 to allow both to be constructed.{{sfn |Broomhead |2021}} Planning permission was then granted for the reinstatement from Staveley to Renishaw, including Brindley's Puddle Bank which carries the canal across the valley of the [[River Doe Lea]]. The canal was breached after closure to prevent flooding by the river, which passed under the canal in a culvert, and the new crossing will feature a {{convert|120|ft|m|adj=on}} aqueduct. At Renishaw, {{convert|0.5|mi|km|1}} of canal were restored in 2010 but have since become derelict again, due to a failure to reach agreement with the Environment Agency over water supplies. That issue should be resolved as part of the development. Meanwhile, Staveley Town Basin has been renamed Staveley Waterside, as plans for a new village with a hotel and marina have been announced by Derbyshire County Council.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=A leap ahead for next stage of Chesterfield restoration |magazine=Waterways World |date=July 2021 |issn=0309-1422 |page=25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/developments/staveley/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331074027/https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/developments/staveley/ |archive-date=31 March 2021 |url-status=live |title=Staveley Regeneration |publisher=Chesterfield Borough Council |year=2021}}</ref>

In 2023, the canal trust received a grant of £5.3&nbsp;million from the Staveley Town Deal, part of the £25.2&nbsp;million awarded to Staveley in 2021 from the government's [[Levelling Up Fund|Towns Fund]]. The grant was expected to cover restoration of the canal from Staveley to the River Doe Lea crossing at the end of Staveley puddle bank. Some 160,000 cubic metres of clay were also donated by a local developer called Suon, with royalties for its extraction waived by the [[Chatsworth House|Chatsworth Estate]]. The clay will be used to rebuild the puddle bank, parts of which were removed in 1972 when it was bulldozed.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Clay donation to restore Chesterfield Canal embankment |magazine=Waterways World |date=July 2023 |issn=0309-1422 |p=20}}</ref> Delays and escalating costs mean that the Staveley Town Deal award will no longer cover the full restoration of the puddle bank, but on 25 October 2024, a new bridge carrying the [[Trans Pennine Trail]] over the route of the canal was installed. This will allow the canal to be restored beneath it, as far as Bellhouse Lane, where the entrance basin to the former Lowgates Arm will provide winding space.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=New bridge for Chesterfield restoration |magazine=Waterways World |date=January 2025 |issn=0309-1422 |p=25}}</ref>