Shardlow Part 04 - Cavendish
w/e 11 October 2015
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Shardlow

In the first part of this occasional series looking at Shardlow, we walked along the Trent and Mersey Canal from London Road to Wilne Bridge and then returned via Wilne Road to The Navigation pub. The second and third parts saw us following the route along the canal out of Shardlow to the River Trent. This fourth part will again see us walking out of the village and actually crossing the river into Leicestershire as we return to the Navigation to follow London Road to the west.

Cavendish Close

But our first image takes us back to a small development between the Malt Shovel pub car park on the left and the New Inn on the right that we saw in Part 01. The development has no significant historical importance and I only include it because of its name. This is Cavendish Close.

Cavendish CourtToll MemorialAs we begin our walk along London Road another small development on the left is called Cavendish Court (left). Just beyond on the right the old road swung to cross the river via the old Cavendish Bridge. The road is now blocked but a small fenced memorial stands nearby (right). London Road, once the main thoroughfare through the village to Derby, continues straight on to cross new Cavendish Bridge.
Memorial

The memorial bears a plaque that reads: "Scale of charges taken from the Toll House of the old Cavendish Bridge built 1758 & washed away in 1947. Re-erected in this position by the County Councils of Derby and Leicester in 1960."

Scale of Toll Charges

Before the old bridge was built on the turnpike road, the river was crossed by the Wilden Ferry, the precise location of which is unknown but it is thought it relocated to the position of the bridge. The scale of charges (above) is headed with the words "Tolls taken at the Bridge by virtue of an Act of Parliament being the same that were taken at the Ferry". It is interesting to see that the tolls paid for horses, mules and asses were the same as foot passengers but soldiers were favoured and only had to pay half as much, the same as for cattle.
Shardlow Marina

When we walked along the Trent and Mersey Canal we saw the Chapel Farm Marina and now approaching the new Cavendish Bridge we get a good overview of the much larger Shardlow Marina which has been created off the River Trent on the northern side of London Road.
Cavendish Bridge Plaque

A plaque half way across the bridge on the southern side shows that it was opened in August 1957.

River Trent

From this central point the view to the south along the River Trent is towards the site of the old bridge.
Cavendish Bridge

And looking back towards Shardlow from the eastern end of the bridge we can see that having crossed the river we have also crossed the county boundary into Leicestershire.
Cavendish House

Cavendish Bridge is not only the name of the bridge but it also applies to the whole area and the hamlet on the Leicestershire side of the river where we could also find Cavendish Farm and Cavendish Brewery close by. Turning off London Road into Back Lane we are actually following the old turnpike road to the old river crossing. The area contains a number of significant old buildings but surprisingly not all of them are Listed Buildings. One such example is the former school of 1859 which is now a private residence called Cavendish House. This was built for the children of the workers at the brewery by George Tressel Eaton whose family had purchased the brewery in 1839.
Plumtree Cottages

Opposite Cavendish House and backing onto the river is another non-listed building that has been converted into residential properties. This is an eighteenth century Georgian Warehouse that now goes by the name of Plumtree Cottages. Although it presents a three storey appearance from the road, the fall of the land to the river means that there are four storeys at the rear.
Old Crown Inn

A little further on is another building dating from the eighteenth century and possibly even earlier. This is the Old Crown Inn and it was here in September 1758 that a meeting was held to discuss a proposed bridge over the river after the turnpiking of the road had increased the traffic with the resulting congestion at the Wilden Ferry. It was the Cavendish Turnpike Trust who had become responsible for turnpiking the road some twenty years earlier in 1738 and tolls were collected until 1888. It was not until 1960 though the the Toll House was demolished. Although significant, again the Old Crown Inn is not a Listed Building.
Cavendish Cottages

The buildings next door though are all Grade II Listed dating from the early nineteenth century with twentieth century additions and are known as Cavendish Cottages. Back Lane continues in front of the cottages but the turnpike road swings to the right opposite the Inn to the site of the old Cavendish Bridge.
End Of The Road

The road however comes to an abrupt end and all that remains are the fine brick boundary walls with the rounded copings along the approach to the former crossing.

From The Old Cavendish Bridge

Peering over the barricade where the Cavendish Bridge once crossed, the sweep of the river is visible as it winds its way from the buildings at Shardlow in the distance. But with all these streets and buildings as well as the bridge and the hamlet bearing the name of Cavendish, you may ponder what the significance of the name is. Well that is down to the 4th Duke of Devonshire who was patron of the scheme to build the bridge. The Duke's architect, James Paine, who was working at the Duke of Devonshire's home at Chatsworth between 1756 and 1760, designed the bridge and it was given the Duke's family name - Cavendish. Since then of course the name has spread throughout the area around the river crossing.
Back to Part 03
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