Editing Chesterfield Canal (section)

==Features==
What are often called "traditional" working [[narrowboats]] were the product of the main canal system – but the craft that plied the 46 miles between [[Chesterfield, Derbyshire|Chesterfield]], [[Retford]], and the [[River Trent]] were very different. Isolated on the fringes of the inland waterways network there were no outside canal influences to change the design of craft that were adequate for the job they had to do. The cabins were below-decks, and the boatmen always had a home ashore. Short journeys, usually with a crew of two, did not generate colourful decorations of roses-and-castles, nor did engines oust the towing horse, not even as late as the 1950s.{{sfn |Richardson |2006}} None of the original "cuckoo" boats have survived, although the last one was extensively measured and recorded in 1976, prior to it being broken up. This has enabled the Canal Trust to create a new boat, named the ''Dawn Rose'', which was constructed at Shireoaks Marina using traditional methods. Wood was bought in 2007,{{sfn |Potter |2012 |pp=58–59}} and construction started in 2011, with the boat being completed and launched in April 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/on-the-water/new-dawn/cuckoo-launched-safely/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200610124644/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/on-the-water/new-dawn/cuckoo-launched-safely/ |archive-date=10 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Cuckoo launched safely – April 2015 |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=4 January 2018}}</ref>

'''[[Norwood Tunnel]]''' was a {{convert|2884|yd|m|adj=mid|-long}}, {{convert|9.25|ft|m|adj=mid|-wide}} and {{convert|12|ft|m|adj=mid|-high}}, brick-lined [[canal tunnel]] on the line of the Chesterfield Canal with its Western Portal in [[Norwood, Derbyshire|Norwood]], [[Derbyshire]] and its Eastern Portal in [[Kiveton]], [[South Yorkshire]].<ref name=CCT>{{cite web|url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/History.shtml|title=Chesterfield Canal Trust History|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081001161855/http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/History.shtml|archive-date=1 October 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Although a small section of it at the eastern end may be reused as part of the restoration, most of it will remain abandoned, as it has suffered from subsidence, and parts of it have been filled in.{{sfn |Coles |2010 |p=1}}

'''Drakeholes Tunnel''' is a second, shorter tunnel 154 yards long also without a [[towpath]] built for the Chesterfield Canal at Drakeholes, Nottinghamshire a location between the Norwood Tunnel and the [[River Trent]]. In order to allow it to be navigated by wide-beam boats, it was built {{convert|16|ft|m}} wide and {{convert|15.5|ft|m}} high. Most of it was cut through solid sandstone, and so remained unlined until 1983, when some of the rock was found to be eroding.{{sfn |Roffey |1989 |pp=23–24}}

'''[[Hollingwood Common Tunnel]]''' is a disused navigable coalmine [[adit]] which terminated at the Chesterfield Canal near Staveley. This tunnel was {{convert|1.75|mi|km}} long, and its water level was maintained {{convert|1|ft|m|spell=in}} lower than that of the canal. This level was maintained by drainage through a culvert running beneath the canal, and required the [[transhipment]] of coal at the terminus. The boats used were loaded underground within the coalmine the tunnel served; these boats were {{convert|21|ft|m}} long and {{convert|3|ft|6|in|m}} wide.{{sfn |Glover |1829 |p=264}}

Proposals are at early stages for a link north from Killamarsh to the [[Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation]] along the [[River Rother, South Yorkshire|River Rother]], to be called the '''[[Rother Link]]'''.{{sfn |Richardson |Lower |2006 |p=7}} This would provide a way to reach the Chesterfield Canal without negotiating the tidal [[River Trent]], and would create a new cruising ring, taking in the Rother Link, River Don Navigation, [[Stainforth and Keadby Canal]], River Trent, and Chesterfield Canal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/rother-valley-link/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200611073622/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/rother-valley-link/ |archive-date=11 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=Rother Valley Link |date=2 July 2013 |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=10 January 2018}}</ref>

The towpath of the canal has become a long-distance footpath and cycle route, stretching for {{convert|46|mi|km}} from Chesterfield to West Stockwith, and is signposted as the "Cuckoo Way" after the name given to the boats which worked on the canal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/off-the-water/walking-and-cycling/walk-the-whole-canal/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612003603/https://chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/off-the-water/walking-and-cycling/walk-the-whole-canal/ |archive-date=12 June 2020 |url-status=live |title=General walking information |publisher=Chesterfield Canal Trust |access-date=9 January 2018}}</ref> Parts of the towpath beside the western section of the route are also part of the [[Trans Pennine Trail]] cycle route.{{sfn |Richardson |Lower |2006 |p=28}}

The Chesterfield Canal hit international headlines in 1978. While dredging the bottom of the canal to remove rubbish a maintenance team pulled up a large chain which had a wooden plug attached to it. Later that day, it was noticed that a whirlpool had formed and it became evident that the section of the canal between Whitsunday Pie Lock and Retford Town Lock was losing water. Investigation revealed that the plug was an original engineering feature of the canal, having been installed to allow sections to be drained for future maintenance purposes. The water drained (as designed) harmlessly into the nearby river Idle. The Retford event became a national and international story at the time, and was even recorded in [[Lloyd's List]].{{sfn |Richardson |Lower |2006|p=16}} However, these plugs were a common feature of English canals built at that time and other instances of sudden drainage (both purposeful and accidental) have since been recorded, including emptying of the [[Pontcysyllte Aqueduct]] on the Llangollen Canal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/8350221.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091113200703/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/8350221.stm |archive-date=13 November 2009 |url-status=live |title='Cool' as boy pulls aqueduct plug |publisher=BBC News |date=9 November 2009 |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref>