The Hallam Fields Industrial Trail - Part 5 - The Canal Turn
w/e 20 November 2005
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

In horse racing parlance, the Canal Turn is a feature of the Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool but here in Part 5 it only refers to the U turn we will make as we explore both sides of the Erewash Canal continuing along the towpath to Stanton Lock where we will cross the canal to return up the other side along the Nutbrook Trail.

About a hundred yards from where the canal crosses the Nut Brook (see Part 4) there is a widening of the canal on the western bank. This small image (left) shows the widening from the towpath but the larger view above is from the opposite side of the canal. The cause of this widening can be accurately dated to the afternoon of September 29th 1940. A lone Heinkel 111 dropped a bomb narrowly missing the nearby casting plant and making a large crater in the canal bank. Danny Corns, whose memories are the basis for this series, was a witness to this as were many other local people. Danny says, "We knew then that the war had arrived!"

But returning to the towpath on the eastern bank the next point of interest we reach marking the southern extremity of the Industrial Trail is Stanton Lock. This was formerly called Whitehouse Junction Lock and previously there were buildings on both sides of the canal here. The grassed area in the centre of this picture was the location of the lock house that was demolished in the 1960s. A lock-keeper who lived here in the 1920s by the name of Joe Trolley, later ran the Boys' Institute on Crompton Street while an earlier lock-keeper's wife, Mrs Goodwin tragically drowned in the canal in 1905.

Adjacent to the lock is a bridge over the canal and this is where we pick up the Nutbrook Trail which we will follow back towards Crompton Road (formerly Street). The Nutbrook Trail is a nine mile pedestrian and cycle route between Long Eaton and Shipley. The lock and the lock house were for many years overshadowed by a giant cinder tip created by the dumping of furnace slag. This was later used for road building and other purposes but when iron working ceased at Stanton, the remains of the tip were left in situ. Today the tip is still there although nature is doing its best to claim it back and give it a more natural look

At this point the Nutbrook Trail is a wide tarmac path with grassy verges and has a number of wooden benches providing a comparatively pleasant environment so different to its industrial past. On a bitterly cold and windy November day, it was no place to dally although I did pause for a few photos. The buildings seen here were Big Shop and Butcher's Shop in their heyday while to the left of them in the distance is the tower of St Bartholomew's Church - this is a much changed scene from bygone days.

As we approach the buildings passing the bomb crater seen earlier, the upper branches of a fig tree can be seen above the wall that runs alongside the canal. The trail on this side of the canal is a few feet higher than the towpath on the opposite side and the tree appears to cling precariously to the wall, its trunk emerging from a narrow strip of earth between the canal and the wall.

Near the fig tree at the side of the path is the Wild Weed Vetch sculpture. This was produced by Hilary Cartmel and Michael Johnson, metal work sculptors who have worked in partnership since 1985 and is one of three commissioned for the Nutbrook Trail. Because of the area's iron making history this is surely a fitting and appropriate place for a metal sculpture. Back to Part 4  Hallam Fields Index  Forward to Part 6

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