Cossall - The Robbinetts
Arm (Scenery)
w/e 23 January
2005
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
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It was only a very short walk
as can be seen from the red line on plan opposite but in a week
where the weather was changeable to say the least - gales, mild,
cold, rain, bright spells with even a few snow flurries thrown
in for good measure - it was too good an opportunity to miss
when we awoke one morning to a bright clear winter's day. So
as we had an hour to spare, we answered the call of the countryside
and drove to a car park on Dead Lane from where we set off to
explore the Robbinetts Arm of the disused Nottingham Canal just
south of Cossall Village. The red numbers 1 to 6 on the plan
indicate the approximate positions of the following images.
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When the Nottingham Canal was
constructed in the early 1790s, this section to the south of
Cossall was built in a loop and on an embankment so as to maintain
its level aspect on its way to Nottingham from Langley Mill.
The canal was slightly less a than fourteen and a half miles
long and had seven short side branches of which the Robbinetts
Arm is just one. This first image from the towpath is looking
towards the Robbinetts Arm and the frosty fields beyond across
the overgrown canal. We would shortly be walking along the towpath
behind the wooden bench opposite but first we had to cross the
canal.
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A little further round the loop,
this footbridge now provides an easy way across the canal. as
we have already seen above, there had been a sharp frost overnight
and although the ground was beginning to ease, this picture shows
the frost still remained in the shadows where the sun had not
yet reached. Through the hedgerow, Ilkeston can be seen in the
distance.
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Returning up the other side of the canal,
a look back towards the bridge also showed some of the houses
in Cossall Village. At this point the canal, built up on its
embankment, is high above the fields to the left and Dead Lane
to the right which leads into the village.
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Where Dead Lane and the Robbinetts Arm come together, there used
to be a swing bridge but now motorists just have to negotiate
a hairpin bend to drop down the hill (right) before rising again
into Cossall or vice versa of course if travelling in the opposite
direction to Trowell (left).
We carefully crossed Dead Lane here and I stress "carefully"
for despite its name, the road is quite a busy one and visibility
at this point in not the best so it is advisable to listen as
well as look for traffic. The two views in the image above were
both taken from the road but in opposite directions. On the left,
the path back to the Nottingham Canal is well worn and, as can
be seen by the notices and signs, is well used by walkers (but
not fisherman) whilst on the right, the continuation along the
Robbinetts Arm it is still grass-covered and is obviously less
well used.
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From the overflow channel looking
back towards Dead Lane this is a peaceful scene today but two
hundred years ago the same view would have been much different.
In the first part of the nineteenth century, canals in this area
were the main means of transportation especially for coal and
they continued to be so until the railways took over about 1840.
The Nottingham Canal continued to carry traffic until 1928 but
was abandoned in 1937.
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This is about as far as you
can go along the Robbinetts Arm without climbing fences and walking
across fields and today there is little evidence to suggest why
the Arm was built. But across the canal to the right and just
a little further on, maps show the existence of a disused mine
so it's a fair assumption that the prime function of the Robbinetts
Arm was to allow the collection of coal from there for delivery
to the River Trent at Nottingham.
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