About Whaley Bridge Wharf & Transhipment Warehouse
The canal wharf at Whaley bridge was constructed in 1797 as part of the Peak Forest Canal and further developed in 1801 with the erection of a three story wharehousewhich straddled the canal. With the arrival of the Cromford & High Peak Railway railway,the wharf acted as an important modal interchange for the transfer of goods.
The Peak District imposes a significant physical barrier to transport; when the Peak Forest Canal was built in 1799, an alternative to the long route through the Trent and Mersey Canal was sought to carry minerals and finished goods to Manchester, as well as raw cotton for the East Midlands textile industry. In 1810, a prospectus was published for a route via Grindleford, Hope and Edale, but since it could only promise £6,000 a year, in return for an outlay of £500,000, it was received with little enthusiasm. The canal would have been cut at a height of over 300 m (1,000 ft) with the considerable problem of supplying it with water on the dry limestone uplands.
Josias Jessopwas asked to survey the route;he had gainedextensive experience in building tramways where conditions were unsuitable for canals, along with his father William and their former partner Benjamin Outram. It would be a testing project -the first long distance line amountedto 53 km (33 miles)and the 300 m climb from Chromford to its summit at Ladmanlow madeit one of the highest lines built in Britain, before or since.
The Act of Parliament for a "railway or tramroad" to be propelled by "stationary or locomotive steam engines" was passed in 1825 and the first section opened in 1830, from Cromford Wharf to Hurdlow opened in 1830. The original mineral waggons were similar to those used for the earlierLittle Eaton Gangway. From the canal it climbed over 330m in 8 km (1,000 ft in 5 miles) through five inclines ranging from 1 in 8 to 1 in 16. The section from Hurdlow to Whaley Bridge opened in 1832, descending through four more inclines, the steepest being 1 in 7. Fishbelly rails to the Stephenson gauge were supported on stone blocks rather than timber sleepers to permit the hauling by horses on the flat sections. Stationary steam engines were used on eight of the nine inclined planes; the last incline into Whaley Bridge was counterbalanced and worked by a horse-gin which remained in operation until 1952. The journey took almost two days to complete.
The role of the warehouse expanded - in addition to providing a venue for unloading of materials for delivery to Whaley Bridge, it now became a major interchange between the canal and the railway. The wharf area was increased in 1832; extension sidings were constructed to improve access from the railway to the canal and covered by a single storey extension to the existingwarehouse which now stretchedover five bays and offered bothimprovedheadroom and more space for rapid transhipment.
Isolated until 1853, the southern end of the line was connected to the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway at High Peak Junction, and the northern end was connected to the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway in 1857. The C&HPR was initially leased by the London and North Western Railway in 1862, then fully absorbed in 1887. Permission was obtained in 1890 to connect the line directly to Buxton by building a new line from Harpur Hill, thus frustrating the Midland Railway's plans for a route to Manchester. The former northernend of the line, from Ladmanlow to Whaley Bridge,was largely abandoned in 1892, though the track bed is still visible in many places and one incline forms part of a public road which can be traced south of the wharf, beyond the crossing of the River Goyt via a wrought-iron bowstring girder bridge.
The third floor of the warehouse was removed in 1915 under temporary wartimeownership by the government. Derelict by the early 1970's, the roof was replaced by British Waterways in 1993. ThisGrade II* Listed Building is now the central focus of a proposed re-development of the canal basin.
