Description: Looking north along the disused and reed-filled Nottingham Canal with Cossall Road to the right and Cossall village visible on the horizon. A man with two dogs appears to be about to cross the canal via an improvised rubble causeway and some planks. While there was never a bridge at this point when the canal was operational, a footbridge was provided subsequent to this view being taken. This was part of a wider scheme to improve the derelict waterway and also involved infilling of some sections where embankment stability was a problem, dredging of retained sections,the creation of intermediate ponds, and the laying out of a multi-user trail roughly following the old towpath.
The Nottingham Canal extended from the River Trent at Nottingham in a generally north-westerly direction for 14.7 miles (23.6 kilometres) via Lenton, Radford, Wollaton, Trowell, Cossall, and Awsworth to Langley Mill where it connected with the Cromford and Erewash Canals. Its main purpose was the movement of coal from mines in the Erewash Valley to Nottingham. Opened in 1796, it was later acquired by the Great Northern Railway but, apart from the Nottingham-Lenton section (which was transferred to the Trent Navigation Company and, via its link with the Beeston Canal, remains in use today), it was abandoned in 1936.