on the canal was coal and coke, while the rest consisted of gritstone, iron ore, and lead. When the Derby and Nottingham Canals were completed by Jessop and Benjamin Outram in 1796, they provided direct routes to the important textile centres of Derby and Nottingham. In January 1845, the Cromford Canal Company decided to have a permanent pump built to provide enough water during dry conditions. This was made by Graham and Company at the Milton Iron Works, Elsecar. The canal was successful until the mid 19th century when the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway extended its line south of the canal. In 1852, the canal was sold to the railway company which accelerated its decline. By 1889 the canal was mostly used for local traffic. It was eventually closed in 1944 as the costs of maintaining and repairing the canal were too great. Derbyshire County Council acquired the canal in 1974 and the Cromford Canal Society undertook the task of restoring it. Cromford and High Peak Railway In the early 19th century, a canal had been proposed to connect the Peak Forest Canal, which terminated at Whaley Bridge, with the Cromford Canal, providing a direct route between markets in Lancashire and Derbyshire. However, costs were prohibitive and the plan was abandoned. Josias Jessop, the son of William Jessop, believed that a wagonway would be much cheaper than a canal. On 2 May 1825 an Act of Parliament for the construction of a railway from Cromford to Whaley Bridge was passed. The proposal – backed by William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, Richard Arkwright junior, and several Manchester bankers – was ambitious; it was expected that steam locomotives would be used on the line, even though the technology was in its infancy and George Stephenson did not build his revolutionary Rocket until 1829. The south part of the railway, from Cromford Wharf to Hurdlow, south east of Buxton, opened on 29 May 1830, and on 6 July 1831 the rest of the line opened to Whaley Bridge. The first steam locomotive on the line was introduced in 1841; before that, the traffic had been made up entirely of wagons. The railway ascended from above sea level at Cromford Wharf to a height of above sea level at Ladmanlow, before descending to at the wharves of the Peak Forest Canal. The changes in height, which would have necessitated many