Middleton Top and Leawood Pump

Monday October 6, 2008 by Peter T

Yesterday’s Local History Society trip was a great success. We started at Middleton Top, where the stationary engine was working. When the Cromford & High Peak Railway (now the High Peak Trail) was build in the late 1820s, to join the Cromford Canal to the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge, they did not have a set idea of what a railway should be. This line was envisage as a canal on rails, whith horses pulling the trains along the level and stationary engines winching the wagons up inclines, serving the same function as locks. Although now powered by compressed air rather than steam, Middleton Top engine is the oldest engine of its type in the world still working in its original location.

The southern end of this line was at Cromford Junction where goods were transferred to/from the Cromford Canal. Initially the canal was kept topped up with water from streams higher up, but as the Industrial Revolution progressed these were diverted to power mills. We walked the few hundred yards in glorious sunshine along the canal from Cromford Junction to see Leawood Pump in full steam. Installed in 1839, it was built to pump water up from the River Derwent into the canal. This steam pump is still in full working order.

Two find out about both, and to check what days they are operational see their website. Here are some photos taken by Mike G yesterday and on an earlier visit: