Description: Looking north along the Erewash Canal with West Park to the left and Long Eaton Fire Station on the right. The nearest footbridge was provided to access Long Eaton Grammar School but was later removed (the School closed in 2006). Beyond that is another footbridge connecting Broad Street to West Park and then in the far distance Long Eaton Lock (No 61 in the Grand Union Canal sequence from London to Langley Mill).
The Erewash Canal runs for 12 miles (19 km) from the River Trent via Long Eaton, Sandiacre and Ilkeston to Langley Mill and includes 14 locks. The Canal was engineered by John Varley and opened in 1779 at a cost of £21,000. Serving the industrialised Erewash Valley with its many coal mines, iron works and factories, it remained a useful transport artery well into the 20th century and it was only after World War Two that it began to fall into disuse. The section north of Gallows Inn at Ilkeston up to Langley Mill was declared unnavigable in 1962 and closure was proposed. The Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association was formed in 1968 and after much restoration work the Canal was reopened throughout. In the 1980s it was duly upgraded from a 'remainder' waterway to 'cruiseway' status.