Chesterfield Canal :: Not where it used to be
I’ve lived in Killamarsh for 14+ years and spent quite a lot of time walking and riding along the canal towpath and old railways (the latter being part of the Trans Pennine Trail).Only recently, I was looking at the 1:25000 OS map and spotted something that said ‘canal dis’ not where I expectedthe disused canal to be. This set me off on one, and I’ve spent a few hours poring over maps and Internet resources, and sure enough, the Chesterfield canal isn’t where it was now when it was built. By the look sof it, when the GC railway (formerly the MLSR?) whas built, the railway would have had to have crossed the canal twice as the cut followed the 55m contour line around the side of a hill. The railway builders had other ideas about a route though, and ploughed straight through the cutting.To avoid (presumably expensive) works getting across the canal, it appears it was cheaper and easier just to move the canal. The consequnce is that canal and railway travel side by side for around 1 mile.I intend getting out this weekend to see if I can chart the location of the old canal route. Certainly, bits of it can be seen on what bit of hi-res imagery exists on Google Earth for Killamarsh, and there are obviously clues on the OS maps.I feel like I should be working on an episode of Landscape Detective :-)
Oh, I should also add that I’ve got myself a new camera – a Canon EOS350D 8MP digital SLR and I could really do with a chance to give it a good run out!!
