Details for Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association Return to Clubs List

Club Profile

History of the Erewash Canal
Construction of the Erewash Canal was started 1777 and completed in 1779. It was profitable until the collapse of the Butterly tunnel on the Cromford reduced its coal traffic

In 1932 the Erewash Canal was purchased by the Grand Union Canal Company (this explains the odd lock numbers – 60 thro’ to 73 as it is a continuation of the lock numbers on the River Soar). During World War 2 it was used to carry bomb cases from Stanton Iron Works and the last commercial narrowboat operation was in 1952.

 In 1962 The Transport Act 1968 reclassified the waterways into three classes: commercial, cruising and remainder. The British Transport Commission classified Erewash canal as a remainder canal and closed it to navigation above Gallows Inn lock.

Erewash Canal Action Committee (ECAC)

As a direct result of a newspaper article printed in the Long Eaton Advertiser on Friday 22 September 1967, local residents, business proprietors, and councillors got together and formed the Erewash Canal Action Committee (ECAC) to combat the threatened closure of the entire Erewash canal. Their first meeting was on 18 January 1968.

Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association (ECPDA)

At the second ECAC meeting in February 1968 the Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association (ECP&DA) was formed to protect the Erewash canal from closure and promote restoration of the canal and its structures. 

Early achievements
Within two years the ECP&DA members had cleared the canal navigation to Langley Mill, where in the mid-60s sadly the Cromford Canal toll office and lock cottage had been bulldozed into Langley Bridge lock (No.14 on the Cromford Canal).

Between 1971 and 1973
The lock was cleared; the Langley Mill Basin and Great Northern basins were excavated and walls repaired, lock gates were borrowed from the Wollaton flight on the Nottingham Canal and rebuilt to fit Langley Bridge Lock. The opening of the Great Northern Basin (GNB) was celebrated by the Three Canals Rally in May 1973 (so called because Langley Mill basin is at the confluence of three canals, the Erewash, Cromford and Nottingham canals). A commemorative rally has been held at GNB every five years since, the most recent in 2023 celebrated 50 years since the reopening of the GNB.

Nottingham Canal Swing Bridge crossing the entrance to the Great Northern Basin has been rebuilt twice and undergoes regular maintenance

Langley Mill Boat Yard Dry Dock

1974 – 1977 Built by ECP&DA members – one is now our President and still a regular work party volunteer. After the initial building of the dry dock a length of the Cromford canal was excavated to create moorings for the boat yard.

Nottingham Canal Toll house is leased from CRT which ECPDA have done a lot of restoration work including the windows and roof.

1993 Pumping station is on a 99-yr lease from Severn Trent Water. Originally a sewage station, Severn Trent Water were about to demolish it and ECP&DA suggested they lease it to us so that we could repurpose it to backfill the LM basin with water from the Erewash Canal below the lock. After the restoration of the building was completed in 1993, Severn Trent Water returned the refurbished original steam pump, and it was reinstalled in the Pump House. It can be seen working at our rallies run by a steam engine.

2005 Extension of Cromford Canal was further extended by ECP&DA to the point where the canal had been devastated by open cast mining.

2011 A cottage at 130 Derby Road Langley Mill, now the official HQ of ECP&DA was purchased in 2011 from Hardy Hanson/Green King brewery for £27000. It is currently used as a volunteer’s canteen and the upstairs is used as a store area.

2017 ECPDA changed its charity status and was registered as CIO in January 2017

2017 Sandiacre lock cottages, the original HQ for ECP&DA, rented since 1968, was purchased for £65000, the money was raised by the members in a few weeks.

The Lock cottages open every third Sunday of the month as a free entry Canalside attraction providing a step back in time experience for visitors and also offers educational opportunities to local schools.

Great Northern Basin moorings
Moorings for 13 narrow boats, currently we do have some vacant moorings for boats up to 57ft.

Working with BWB/CRT

East Midlands Waterways Recovery Group (WRG) setup by John Baylis provided ECPDA with a certain amount of credibility in the eyes of BWB/CRT.

Under John Baylis ECPDA volunteers manufactured grappling hooks, handcuff locks and caried out many repairs to broken and bent spear rods for BWB/CRT in their small workshop at Langley Mill.

More recently along the Erewash canal we have replaced broken paddles and spear rods, windlass posts, gate fenders, rubbing strips and anti-slip on the top of lock gates.

Since the passing of John Baylis, East Midlands WRG has been closed so ECPDA no longer benefits from WRG status.  

2025 Friends of Cromford Canal have now got planning permission to extend the Cromford Canal a further kilometre including a staircase lock.

The preliminary work for this was started by ECP&DA volunteers over the last two winters clearing the trees including pulling the roots out of the original line of the canal bed. More work by some Waterways Recovery Group (WRG) camps has seen the preparation of the site move forwards to allow restoration to get under way.

2025 ECP&DA adopted a working name - Erewash Canal Association and its volunteers are still working with CRT along the length of the Erewash Canal. We are looking forward to a winter season of cutting back and maintaining offside vegetation and ongoing lock and swing bridge maintenance during 2026.