The Adelphi Canal was a small privately owned canal in

Duckmanton Duckmanton is a village within the civil parish of Sutton cum Duckmanton, in North East Derbyshire, between Bolsover and Chesterfield. Duckmanton is a long scattered village, running north and south, usually designated Long, Middle and Far Duckm ...

, near

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, built in 1799. It was used to transport pig iron from an ironworks to a wharf by a road. It is not connected to any waterway. The iron was forwarded by road to the

Chesterfield Canal The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 a ...

History

The Smith family were prominent in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

's economy from the second half of the 18th century, being involved in the iron and coal industries. This lasted through the

American Wars of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

and the

Napoleonic War The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. Ebenezer Smith (1756–1827) had an iron works at Brampton which was casting products such as munitions. It also cast

Newcomen engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

s mainly used to pump out water from mines. Family holdings were mines outside the city at Calow, Hady, Hollingwood, Inkersall and Staveley, and ironworks at Brampton, Calow and Stonegravels. The Adelphi Ironworks were built in Long Duckmanton around 1799. Twin furnaces could produce 900 tons of pig iron in a year, which was used for munitions. Due to the poor condition of roads in winter, many ironworks' winter output was stockpiled until the summer. To bypass this delay, Smith decided to have built this canal. It imitated the Poolsbrook or Pools Brook from the mine to near where Tom Lane meets Staveley Road. From here roads run to the

, where the cargos would be laden for taking to the

River Trent The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...

and beyond. The canal was supplied with water which was pumped from the mines by a Newcomen engine, which had been modified by James Watt. The canal was built as a wooden trough. Small boats were used which were capable of carrying 1.5 tons, and all goods had to be transhipped twice to reach the

. An obvious solution would have been to continue the canal north, having to cross the Duke of Devonshire's land. The ironworks ran into difficulties in the 1820s, with accusations of

illegal mining Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the ca ...

activity, and the Duke of Devonshire cancelled the Smith's lease of Staveley Upperground colliery and for ironstone at the Hady mines in 1832. No record of the canal's cessation is known.

Today

The Adelphi ironworks and the start of the canal were just north of Arkwright Town. Houses to its south were removed as affected by methane from the mines.Geograph: Photograph with caption
/ref> Remnants of the works were in the buildings of Works Farm until at least the 1980s. Mining afterwards has resulted in an open-cast mine, removing most remainings traces of the canal and works. The weigh bridge and pattern shop remain.

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References

{{Unnavigable Canals of the United Kingdom Canals in Derbyshire Canals opened in 1799

History

Today

See also

Bibliography

References