Erewash Valley facts for kids

The Erewash Valley is the valley of the River Erewash (pronounced ) on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire as far as the River Trent. It runs along the boundary of the southern end of the Derbyshire hills and the more rolling Nottinghamshire country. It is on the edge of an area of great mineral wealth, particularly coal, extending from Yorkshire to Leicestershire.

Industrial Importance

It has long been an important transport route, with the Erewash Canal being built from the River Trent to Langley Mill in 1779, extended by the Cromford Canal in 1794 with a branch to Pinxton, where it was later joined by the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway in 1819.

Later the Midland Railway built a connection from its line at Trent Junction to the Mansfield and Pinxton, and onward to Chesterfield, which has become known as the Erewash Valley Line. The valley contains the Grade II* listed disused wrought iron Bennerley Viaduct which once carried the GNR Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension over the line.