This is an exception for me, in that the photos aren't mine, but the property of the Aquaduct Cottage Restoration Group. Let me explain................
The Cromford Canal is an important part of the industrial heritage of Derbyshire. If you walk along it, you will come to the Lea Valley Pump House, built to pump water from the River Derwent into the canal. A little further along, the canal is carried on an aquaduct over the river, and thence to where a narrow canal arm joins the main one. This is the area we are interested in. The land and the woods at this point once belonged to Florence Nightingale's family, but are now a public nature reserve. The arm goes off here, to connect the Cromford Canal to mills on the far side of the Nightingale estate.
Where they meet, stood Aquaduct Cottage.
It was inhabited until the1950s, but then allowed to fall into disrepair because, with no services at all, it was considered uninhabitable.
(For the full story, you will need to follow the Restoration Group on Facebook.)
Anyway, to cut a long story short, along came Mr. Ron Common, who found the cottage in a very sorry state
He realised the importance of both its' history and the importance to the protected area. He fundraised, Lottery Grant raised, volunteer encouraged and organised the project to rebuild the cottage, its' outbuildings and its gardens, with the whole to be used as a local resource and information building.
A few years down the line, the cottage is able now to be visited when the team are working on site and when events are being held.
The Grade II listed cottage is complete, as is the wash-house. The walk-in pantry is almost finished, the steps up into the woods are done. The North garden is full of flowering plants, the south garden has a lower flower bed, and the upper one is now a picnic area.
The toilet, pig-sty and small forge are still untouched. A paved footpath has been laid, and today, the team started clearing a path along the canal to where the vegetable garden used to be. So there is plenty of work left to do.
Personally, having followed the project from the beginning, I can't wait to visit it next summer to see it for myself and to take my own memories for this site.
Update Christmas 2023: The cottage, wash-house, pantry and gardens are complete, and the building is now in use as an information and creativity centre. There have been 'artists in residence' and various other events held there.
Mean while, work is continuing. There is work ongoing on the smithy area at the end of the south garden, to convert it to a log store for the wood burner in the cottage. The privy and pigsty are to be rebuilt, and a path is being built to the upper, walled garden, where the wall will be repaired, and the garden will be cleared and become a nursery for young trees to be used in a re-wilding project for the reserve.
So: the work continues, and next year will see:
- Restoration of the pigsty/privy
- Re-instating a lock gate on the Leawood arm
- Rejuvenating the top garden into a tree nursery, orchard and re-wilding project area for visitors to explore
- Installation of wildlife videocams at the cottage
- Cottage/wildlife photo competition
- Art & craft exhibitions/courses from Spring to Autumn
And to finish this update, the project, the volunteers, Ron Common (project leader) and Andrew Churchman (building expert) have all received well-deserved awards from the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust.
Why am I so invested in this cottage?
Well, all my life I've been an avid reader, and when I was about 11 I was given a book called 'Ambush of Young Days' by Alison Uttley, who was famous for her Little Grey Rabbit books that I so loved when I was very young.
She grew up in Derbyshire, and this book was based on her own childhood in Derbyshire, and it had some beautiful illustrations by C.F. Tunnicliffe. One of these pictures has always stuck in my mind - it was of a small cottage on the banks of a canal, and as soon as I saw a photo of Aquaduct Cottage, I recognised it.
The book was written in the 1930s I think, when the cottage was still a family home, and it made me sad to see it so derelict.
If nothing else, its restoration is a tribute to the skill of Mr. Tunnicliffe.
Sadly, I no longer have the book, and it is out of print and out of fashion, but one day..........
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