I was over at my papershop at 7 this morning to get the DT,was disappointed when i discovered they hadnt printed it! I drove past the site today,there seemed to be a crowd of high viz people gathered....wonder who they were??? Also,still cant believe how quick they are demolishing the buildings.You can see the huge size of the site now its opening up.really hope they dont fill it ALL with houses....they could make a 'green' landscaped area up around the old pond at the top at least.......... 😢

I am told to look out for Friends of Cromford Canal inspired story in next Tuesday's Derby Telegraph, baring an 'end of the world' headline knocking it out of its (rightfull) place of course. The Victorian Society have been contacted as well. I will be asking a 'difficult' question at the next Amber Valley Cabinet meeting about the whole sorry process and their part in it.

It appears that there may be some leverage against the scrapmen if we are able to positively identify any pre-1948 building that has been demolished.

One such structure could be the compressor house (see image below) which contained Belliss and Morcom compressors which I recall as dating from 1930 (the one visible) and 1938. Unfortunately, I do not know if the compressor house dates from the same period or whether the compressors had been moved from elsewhere.

Is anyone able to confirm the age of the compressor house?
Is anyone aware of any other structures which are, or could, date from before 1948? :surrender:

🔗Butterley-Ironworks-Smelt-Mill-User-Album-Image-43983[linkphoto]Butterley-Ironworks-Smelt-Mill-User-Album-Image-43983[/linkphoto][/link]

I had a really good look at these and the buildings look pre pre 50s
to me... the answer might be in the brick type which are Waingroves Plastic.

I cant really imagine these having been moved. The one in the rear seemed to have been built first and the outer one added on.

Shovel... Derbyshire times got in touch today and the article in their will run next Thursday instead.

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ICLOK did you know a bloke in the drawing office called Bonfield??? cant remember his first name though.. :blink:

Young chap? in his 40s now ... why ... is he ok? Think we may have been at college as well together briefly?

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No,he must be late fifties at least.i knew his daughter at school,he worked there years i think..im just wondering if he may be interested in our movements...he lives in my area....im just wondering if he would like to view the forum...share his views??? 🙂

I think you mean Julian Bonfield, former Engineering Director who now works at Atkins.
http://www.bennettmg.co.uk/CV_Julian_Bonfield.aspx 
If you know how to get hold of him, it would not hurt.

The main sheds were built in 1941!!!
:curse:

Then doesn't that mean (if my understanding of what Sougher says) make the whole demolition illegal! 😮

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Yep - and I know they were built in 1941, my grandfather built 'em.

Unfortunately AVBC gave them permission to demolish the 'steel framed' buildings more or less irrespective of age!
I note that the developer is no longer Morris Homes who built Cromford View - excuse me while I roll about on the floor laughing at just how you see Cromford from there - who applied to demolish in the Spring of 08 but another. Does anyone know what they are planning after demolition?

Yep the plan is to infill the entire site with rubble burying the furnace bank (Thus it won't require maintaining or demolition) and demolish everything except the two listed buildings! They then plan to build 12-14 houses i think it was... but these will probably be town type houses..... The site will basically be obliterated! They got away with the sheds by applying for a section 80 or 82 order which was simply passed! AVBC didn't know demolition had even started!!

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Julian Bonfield,thats it! will alert him to the forum. 😉 I was speaking with my dad (retired senior civil engineer) and he thought it would be a difficult site to fill,with the levels from the road,(butterley hill side) over to the top of the furnace bank being quite a difference in gradient,would take a hell of alot of fill,and would all then require a stack of ground stabilising and piling,he thought it would make sense and cost less to keep the furnace bank exposed and restore it than bring in such huge amount of fill.Also,there would be a huge bearing on local roads with dozens of wagons bringing in the materials to fill the site with. :confused:

Yes but the tipping of used aggregate and crushed demolition waste is chargeable and would make coast Properties lots of dosh... even before they built on it!

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In which case we will have to make sure that they pay their Land Fill Tax and get permission to tip on the site, both of which will be expensive and time consuming, so it's eyes peeled for any signs of activity in that department!

Its barmy isnt it?! These property developers have got a way around everything eh? bast**** ( can i put that?!!) Im sure it would still take along time to fill it if they do go ahead with it,godwilling they wont,spoil would have to be brought in from miles away,there isnt that much other demolition going off locally so like i say,it would have loads of lorries banging on local roads,like where i live in swanwick.(Quickest route to butterley from A38.I bet AVBC wont let them thunder past the town hall way from the 38!!!!) One of the demolition guys told me the concrete bases where the steel sheds are will be at least 3 metres thick (they cant be far off,with my experience from foundation work) and will all have to be broken up,so i suppose all that will fill a big area.I know we all dont want houses on the site,but it would be nice to keep the furnace banks and make a feature of it at least,and use the old stone sheds and use them,as said before,for community space,or,worst off,convert them into smart apartments.The gutterings on the old stone sheds are so ornate,there have been too many beautiful buildings of this quality lost over the years,surely they could make some use of them instead of being consigned to history. 😞

I agree with what you say, the gradiant from the top of the furnace bank to the old A61 road on Butterley Hill would be excessive to build on, of course they may just want to part back fill it, although level sites make more sense. From the canal view, which is my particular area of concern, the breaking up of the floor slabs and interfering with shafts down to the tunnel worry me most. What may not generally be known is that the 'widehole' in the tunnel was owned by the Butterley Co. the rest of the tunnel is still owned by British Waterways, this 'joint' ownership always caused a headache. Does anyone know if, or how I can find out who owns the old bit of Butterley Co. owned Butterley Tunnel if you see what I mean? I will contact British Waterways on Monday to let them know somebody may be doing work that impacts the tunnel, don't hold your breath though, they are not exactly dynamic!

I'd imagine the MR owned the the tunnel then the LMSR then BR and now BW... this could be a long job!! ::)

Re filling, I was told on good authority it would be basically back to the original profile!!! which if you carry Carr wood down obliterates the whole site. 😞

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ICLOK i can see what you mean by what you say about carrying the land down from carr wood.Also,shovel 6,although i didnt mention it i have thought the same as you when it comes to breaking the slabs up..it really could disturb the tunnel and shafts.its all abit worrying really! Iam off on a walk in the snow tomorrow am,taking in pentrich,over the fields to the A610,down the path to the canal,past the western portal of the tunnel,down to hammersmith and call and take some more pics of the site.
just been looking at the intact site,(although you can see they have started building on the drawing office/stockyard site) on Google Earth,ICLOK which is the other listed building other than the gatehouse? i should know really,im curious as to what it would look like.hopefully it wont come to that though. 😞