A Hucknall History

Transport Back to the Future

Tracking Shipping Inroads

Inside this East Midlands region closer the centre of England, importance of the river Trent was shown connecting Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire counties with their nearest sea link through Humber Estuary. Newark Castle grandly overlooked the waterway until the Civil War left a badly damaged ruin. Renovations present this Grade I monument maintained by Newark-upon-Trent authorities.

Driving Industrial Canals

Fuelling national industrialisation was one major reason to seek ways improving age-old inland reliance upon pack horse and carts. Root of the problem was how to distribute larger quantities plus far heavier cargo supporting mass production of affordable goods, especially when British industry had an ever hungrier desire sourcing coal. Only solution known was to inventively build expensive canal networks linking raw suppliers with major manufacturers, furthermore extending riverways to supply far wider markets.

The 1770 Chesterfield canal established navigable route connecting the river Trent, upon which Newark locks soon after assisted busier barge traffic. Bypassing Mansfield raised problems for its town manufacturers.

Horses had begun casually walking adjacent towpaths easily pulling heavier narrow boat cargoes before the 1779 Erewash Canal collected regionally emerging coal fields. A fully extended 1794 Cromford Canal favoured prolific numbers of Derbyshire pits.

Cromford Canal floated closest branch. Its Pinxton Wharf just a few miles away from Huthwaite on the Nottinghamshire border, soon realised great advantage regularly shipping coals that widely fed hungriest markets.

Planned progress for extending that profitable waterway into Mansfield encountered delays caused by objecting parties.   It left that market town struggling to find sufficient enough coals to fuel its malting kilns.

Inflationary costs overcoming construction difficulties may be why that Canal Company declined 15th February 1803 request from industrious Mansfield businessmen.   Desperation to share plentiful supplies of easier won Derbyshire coals from Pinxton wharf led a group of enterprising men to next seek a more cost effective alternative means of connection. Following their 1813 proposed route they'd form their descriptively titled Mansfield and Pinxton Railway Company.   Planning negotiations again took several years, still facing concerned resistance from land owners and other influential business men fearing effect on existing trades.

Tramways Train Railroads

Trams can now conjure past and modern images of city passenger transport. The use of friction reducing rails to more efficiently wheel goods across poor grounds was hardly a new idea.   The naming for tramways may recognise 16th century Swedish origins, meaning a beam of wood. Long straight timbers firstly provided basic rails. Greater practical use came through merging iron rails with innovative engineering designing flanged wheeled railways.

Horse power had already proved successful at wheeling far heavier wagons in larger quarries. Although long before managing to increase output from any deeper collieries, coal wagons hold greatest association behind British railways, after canal waterways networked national supplies. It probably reflects importance fuelling in a 19th century industrial revolution powered by steam. Smaller underground tracks allowed cheaper employment of women and younger boys manually hauling underground mineral tubs.

Rare photos of a 1795 Benjamin Outram railway examples commonest method finally feeding 1908 Denby coals onto Derby Canal. Similar scenes would have been witnessed primarily delivering nearby Derbyshire coals into Pinxton Wharf for canal shipments.