The Derbyshire Derwent

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The Derbyshire Derwent Part 4 (Old Age) - Derby to The Trent

After Derby the Derwent has definitely entered its old age. It meanders wildly across a wide flood plain shared with the River Trent approaching from the south west.

As a result it flows through quite a few of the squares more than once. In this article I list each square in the order that it is first entered by the river, rather than each time it passes through, as a result the order of the listing might not always be contiguous.

SK3635

Having flowed past world heritage industrial sites on its way into Derby, the Derwent now flows for a few miles through a more mundane industrial area. An area which, like so many others around the country has seen much regeneration in the past few years with old heavy industry now replaced by sports facilities, business and retail parks.

Before I came along for this article end there were no pictures of the Derwent in this square, most were of Derby station and its surround which lies just to the south of the river.


The river is joined by Markeaton Brook. The last tributary of note.



The north bank of the river here comprises an aggregates yard. I get the impression that there were gravel pits at on time, but now it sizes and recycles demolition rubble. That is certainly what this pile looks like.

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SK3735

The Derwent defines the north eastern corner of Pride Park, a modern Business Park containing, of course, the Pride Park Stadium, home of Derby County FC.




The northern bank is now occupied by a warehouse and retail park.

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SK3734

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SK3834

In this square there begins a series of interesting features. In each a meander to the north has been short-cut by what I expect is a man-made channel terminating in a weir. The water of the meanders now in effect becoming an abstraction channel feeding current or now abandoned industry.

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SK3934

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SK3933

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SK4033

From the weir in this square a complex set of water courses branch off to the north. To the south of the river is the grounds of Elvaston Castle.

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SK4133

As with the last square the river flows along the very northern edge. I have not included SK4134 in this article but a good deal of the water of the river is abstracted through that square in the channels which began at the weir in SK4033.




Here a channel returns some of the abstracted water to the river.

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SK4233

Nothing very exciting in this square, although the small tributary of Ockbrook joins from the north..

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SK4333

Initially the river just makes it into the far east of this square exiting back into SK4233 again.

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SK4232

Just the south side of a bend makes it into this square,


There are no pictures of the river classified in this square, but this one could perhaps have been; the stretch in the distance to the left of the pylon is the bit in question.

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SK4332

Stand in the north west corner of this square and you are virtually surrounded by the river.

The Derwent first enters the square in the very north west corner, flowing very quickly out again back into SK4333.

After flowing south back into the square the Derwent turns to the north west and comes close to cutting through the bend at which it entered it. then turns a full 180 degrees in the matter of a few yards and again nearly meets itself. After that it behaves and heads east out of the square.




This picture shows how this area is all flood plain.

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SK4432

Just this one picture in this square, it was taken by me long before I had conceived of this article. Here as it heads east in a very straight line for a while the Derwent is followed, on the other side of a flood defence bank, by Wilne Road, Draycott.

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SK4431

The first time the river enters this square its stay is very brief it comes in from the north and quickly exits to the west. There are no pictures of this bit. When it comes back it flows straight eastward through the centre. Again there is an abstraction channel to the north. In this case, however, it, despite being prominent on the map, has virtually disappeared.


This weir looks to be here for flow monitoring purposes.


This would seem to be the reason why the abstraction channel here is virtually dry.

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SK4331

There is a loop of the river into this square which enters from, and leaves into SK4431. As a result these pictures are actually upstream of the ones above.

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SK4531

The penultimate square is notable as the last bridge over the Derwent is contained within it.




Here the last waters to be abstracted from the river are returned.




The last bridge over the Derwent.

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SK4530

The southern half of a bend just makes it into this square before the river returns into SK4531.

The Derwent then flows back into the square to meet the Trent at its mouth.

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