Shipley - Shipley Gate
w/e 13 June 2021
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Shipley Gate is a small area where Newmanleys Road
in the Parish of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire meets Long Lane in
that of Shipley in Derbyshire.
In times gone by a corn mill powered by water from the Erewash
stood on the northern side of the river and a large warehouse
despite its semi=derelict state, still stands proudly nearby.
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The river today flows calmly through the valley and looking upstream,
hardly seems capable of powering a large corn mill.
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But sluice gates and weirs in the past where the water passes
under the road would have been enough to generate enough power
to keep the mill busy.
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The first three images above all show the Nottinghamshire side
of the boundary, the river being the boundary between the two
counties but a little further along the road on the Derbyshire
side, a sign on a building proclaims "The Old Slaughterhouse"
but why there was a slaughterhouse here is not immediately clear.
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Just beyond the Old Slaughterhouse the road crosses the Erewash
Canal where, in the distance, a more recent addition of the wind
turbine at Newthorpe, towers above the landscape.
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I walked a little way along the towpath for this view looking
back to the bridge over the canal with Boat Inn Farm on the opposite
bank. The presence of a farm is most likely the reason for the
slaughterhouse.
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On the other side of the bridge the canal passes through Shipley
Lock and today there is a small car park alongside the lock which
makes a good starting point to explore further.
(In the past I have enjoyed a walk in the Autumn Footprints
Walking Festival from Langley Mill, along the disused Nottingham
Canal to Shipley Gate, returning along the Erewash Canal towpath
but it would be just as easy to start from here to complete the
circuit - images on this page).
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At the far end of the lock two swans were sunning themselves
by the towpath and a little further on along the path the canal
and the river come together with the canal crossing the river
via an aqueduct.
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The road continues from the canal and the car park past the Boat
Inn Farm but then a barrier across it indicates a private road
beyond.
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From the barrier the Shipley Boat Inn or MFN as it is now called
meaning "Miles From Nowhere" is next on the right.
Described on its website as "A unique venue in 8 acres of
the Amber Valley" and prior to the pandemic was well known
for bike, car, music nights and Festival the venue is now opening
again as restrictions ease. The road swings round the building
and travels about a quarter of a mile before passing under the
railway line and returning the same distance on the other side.
Pedestrians however can use the footbridge (on the left) and
then continue the climb up the appropriately named Long Lane
to Heanor Road. - or return to the car and travel back to Eastwood!
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