Trent Lock - County Borders of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire

This 360 degree view was taken near the footbridge over the Erewash Canal at Trent Lock, Sawley, Long Eaton, Derbyshire. The three Counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire all meet up at this location.

What can be seen in this 360 degree view, starting from the initial view going in a clockwise direction (i.e panning right).

1. The wooden footbridge over the Erewash Canal. (Starting viewpoint)
2. The Navigation inn pub in the distance
2. The Erewash canal
3. The brick bridge over the canal with the lower lock gates behind
4. The Steamboat inn in the distance
5. The Lock house tea rooms
6. The Cranfleet Cut, allowing boats to navigate the River Trent avoiding the weir.
7. Trent Valley Sailing Club
8. The Midland mainline railway bridge over the river Trent.
9. Orange booms floating on the river, warning boats away from the weir.
10. River Soar entrance
11. The cooling towers of Ratcliffe on Soar power station
12. River Trent and back to the wooden footbridge again.

For lots of details on the above features, read below

This is where the River Trent meets up with the Erewash Canal. The River Soar is the boundary between Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, The River Trent forms the border between Derbyshire and those two counties.

To see some additional 360's as well as lots of normal photographs taken at Trent Lock please click here. Photos and additional 360s of Trent Lock

Trent Valley Sailing Club. was founded in 1886 and is one of the oldest inland sailing clubs in the Country. It is situated on an island formed by the river Trent and the Cranfleet canal. The present clubhouse, a well-known land-mark, was built in 1906 and can be see to the left of the power station.

Lock House Tea Rooms Idyllically set where the rivers Trent and Soar meet, these tea rooms specialise in good old-fashioned cooking. The house dates from 1794, and although it has been modernised over the years by successive lock keepers, there is still evidence of the blacksmith's forge and stabling for barge horses. Attached to the tea rooms is an antique and gift shop.

Trent Lock, the first lock on the Erewash Canal, gave its name to the substantial settlement which grew up where the Erewash Canal joins the River Trent. The Erewash Navigation Inn, now known as The Steam Boat Inn was built by the canal company in 1791 and doubled as a farmhouse. In the pastit was also called The Fisherman’s Rest and Jane Rice's. The other public house at Trent Lock was originaly called the Trent Navigation, Today this is called simply The Navigation Inn.

The idea of a canal was first suggested in 1776, and was supported by many Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire colliery owners who were tempted by the potential cash benefits of reaching new markets.

The route was surveyed and the public meeting held at Heanor in November 1776. The scheme was authorised in April 1777, with John Varley as the engineer. The project was financed by raising £23,000 in £100 shares. During the peak years these shares were worth £1,300 each ! The canal, which cost £21,000, is 11.75 miles long and closely follows the course of the River Erewash. Along its length are 14 locks rising 109 feet from Trent Lock to Langley Mill. The locks are wide gauge, designed to take boats 70 feet long by 14 feet wide.

Canals were once the main form of transport with a network of routes throughout the country, the equivalent of today’s motorways. They allowed coal, iron and stone, the raw materials of the Industrial Revolution, to be transported easily and cheaply. The Erewash Canal was once one of the most prosperous canals in Britain, due to the abundance of trade from the local collieries, ironworks and brickworks. Three other canals joined with the Erewash Canal, helping to ensure regular traffic and adding to the canal’s success and profitability. The 14.5 mile long The Cromford Canal, which joined at Langley Mill, was opened in 1794 at a cost of £78,900.

The Derby Canal was opened in 1796 at a cost of £100,000. It ran 14.5 miles through 9 locks from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Swarkestone to join with the Erewash Canal at Sandiacre Lock.

The 4.5 miles long Nutbrook Canal, opened in 1795, ran from Shipley Wharf to its junction with the Erewash Canal at Stanton. Built at a cost of £22,800, it had 13 locks and was engineered by Benjamin Outram.

The decline of the canal began with the development of railway transport. In 1847 the Erewash Valley Railway opened; it ran parallel to the canal and took a lot of trade from the canal. Competition was severe and the canal had to make toll reductions to attract custom. By 1860 only through traffic and trade from Stanton Ironworks remained. In 1932 the Erewash Canal Company was bought up by the Grand Union Canal Company. Development plans largely failed, and nationalisation of the canal system in 1947 brought the canal under the administration of the British Transport Board.

The canal could have become totally derelict but in 1968 local people formed the Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association and their enthusiasm and determination saved an historic canal from abandonment. Today its popularity as a local leisure resource and tourist attraction is ever increasing.

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Europe / UK-England

Lat: 52° 52' 31.25" N
Long: 2° 17' 19" W

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Precision is: High. Pinpoints the exact spot.

Olympus 5050 mounted on a Home made nodal point adaptor on a standard tripod. 360 view made from 29 photos taken in portrait mode. Each image 1920 x 2560 pixels. Images stitched together using Panorama Factory which created a very large image of 16384 x 2512 pixels. Resized in Photoshop and then QTVR created using Pano2QTVR.