Today's walk explored the landscape created by coal mining in and around the Erewash Valley, the canals and railways and in particular the Bennerley Viaduct. Eighteen members turned out for the longer, 8.7 mile walk through Awsworth and Babbington and across the M1 to Strelley with three others returning from the viaduct to the start via the Erewash Canal.
Lunch was taken at All Saints Church near Strelley Hall (now a business centre) before returning to the canal along excellent tracks with across Nottingham to Beacon Hill in Charnwood and the Belvoir Ridge. Also visible was Wollaton Hall, connected to Strelley in 1604 by a wagonway, an early form of railway with carriages drawn by horses on sawn wooden rails.
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| The start next to the Nottingham Canal |
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| View of the viaduct from the short section of the Nottingham Canal we did not use, just south of Awsworth |
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| The Bennerley Viaduct, opened in 1878, formed part of the Great Northern Railway Derbyshire Extension which was built in part to exploit the coalfields in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The foundations were subject to a great deal of coal mining subsidence and therefore a lighter, flexible wrought iron design was chosen. It is now a Grade II listed structure, one of only two similar viaducts in the UK |
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| Yellow flag iris, water lilies and birdlife on the canal |
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| Short cut |
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| Access to the deck of the viaduct is from below, over the nearby railway bridge and up to the Erewash Canal |
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| Coffee stop on the new decking of the viaduct, recently re-opened following fifty years of closure and a £1.4 million investment - see Friends of Bennerley Viaduct |
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| View from the deck - to the south, Bennerley Marshes, the wetlands next to the Erewash River affected by mining subsidence, and ... |
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| ... to the north, the site of the old Bennerley Colliery (1855-1873) and Ironworks. Surprisingly, opencast mine working continued in the Erewash Valley until 1999 |
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| Near Babbingtonn, a rare example of a rambler gate, aka self-closing stile - unusual but simple and functional |
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| Euclid scrapers, abandoned after the construction of the neaby M1 (allegedly) |
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| Next to Strelley Hall, these stone pavings, which can also be found in Cossall and Ilkeston, are all that are left of the Monks Ways that linked nearby monasteries and provided access to Nottingham and the River Trent |
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| All Saints Church, Strelley - lunch |
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| Back on the Nottingham Canal near its Robbinetts Arm |
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| Backmarkers pass the abundant yellow irises |
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| Rod's shorter version (in red) returning along the Erewash Canal |
