| Administrative History | The Nutbrook Canal was constructed as a consequence of an Act of Parliament of 1793, and was completed in 1796. It ran from Shipley to the Erewash Canal near Trowell. Canal use began to decline across Britain from the mid-nineteenth century with the arrival of rail transport, and the Nutbrook Canal's business was also apparently damaged by poor management in the 1880s, and unpaid debts in the 1890s. In 1895, the Clerk to Company closed the canal to traffic because of the non-payment of rents owed to the Company, prompting protests from the canal's users, especially collieries. The following year, the Company drafted a parliamentary bill to abandon the canal, but this was rejected by the House of Lords at the committee stage, in part because of the opposition of colliery companies. In 1899, after the canal had been derelict for three years, the Nutbrook Canal Company began again to work towards abandonment of the canal, which took place in 1901. |