The Old Sawmill, A Tower and the Cromford Canal

Robin Hood Tower and The Old Sawmill are two of the most significant buildings on the Cromford canal as it passes through the Derwent valley Heritage area. Your journey back in time starts right outside the Tower with the brook, its dramatic fall in the garden of the Old Sawmill, where it is now believed it once powered a turbine. The stone lined chamber was built at the time of the canal’s construction long before the hamlet of Robin Hood. Please see photographs in our historic gallery. Following a proposal for a canal from Langley Mill to Cromford, a survey was carried out between the months of September 1787 to November 1788 by Mr William Jessop: Engineer. See W. Jessop’s Report. The canal follows a contour that is 250 feet above sea level, and work was completed in 1794. The canal was expected to carry commodities in both directions. Limestone and gritstone, for example, towards Langley Mill, and coal for lead mining in the opposite direction. Our research in the Derbyshire Records Office, and excavations in the area around Robin Hood suggests that stone was not only quarried here, it was also processed and dressed before shipping out via Simms’ canal wharf, and eventually over Simms’ bridge to be moved out via their railway wharf. These two landmarks are just a few hundred metres from the Tower. Father and son, George and Robert Stephenson were regular customers for stone quarried here which they used to build railway infrastructure such as bridges and stations. Thanks to its reliability and attractive colour, gritstone from the quarries nearby was also used to build Waterloo bridge opened in 1817, Euston station 1835-37, Derby and Leicester Gaols in 1823 and 1825, sleepers for the London to Birmingham Railway… Walking along the canal in either direction, you will soon get your eye in, and see some of these heritage landmarks for yourself.