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River Amber

Amber ValleyDerbyshire geography stubsDerwent (Derbyshire) catchmentEngland river stubsRivers of Derbyshire
Use British English from September 2017
Clapper Bridge geograph.org.uk 1771853
Clapper Bridge geograph.org.uk 1771853

The River Amber is a left bank tributary of the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. It gives its name to the local government district and borough of Amber Valley.The name Amber is a pre-Celtic word with uncertain meaning.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article River Amber (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

River Amber
Holly Lane, Amber Valley

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 53.06 ° E -1.4838888888889 °
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Address

Holly Lane

Holly Lane
DE56 2EJ Amber Valley
England, United Kingdom
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Clapper Bridge geograph.org.uk 1771853
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Nearby Places

Ambergate
Ambergate

Ambergate () is a village in Derbyshire, England, situated where the River Amber joins the River Derwent, and where the A610 road from Ripley and Nottingham joins the A6 that runs along the Derwent valley between Derby to the south and Matlock to the north. Sawmills and Ridgeway are neighbouring hamlets, and Alderwasley, Heage, Nether Heage and Crich are other significant neighbouring settlements. The village forms part of the Heage and Ambergate ward of Ripley Town Council with a population of 5,013 at the 2011 Census. Ambergate is within the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage site, and has historical connections with George Stephenson; Ambergate is notable for its railway heritage and telephone exchange. Ambergate has an active community life, particularly centred on the school, pubs, churches, sports clubs; and annual village carnival which is relatively large and consistent locally, with popular associated events in carnival week and throughout the year. The carnival is organised by a voluntary committee. Shining Cliff woods, Thacker's woods and Crich Chase border the village. It is about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Matlock at the junction of the A6 trunk road and the A610 to Ripley. A mile east of Ambergate is Heage with its recently restored 18th-century windmill. Until the early 19th century it was known as Toadmoor, with no more than a few artisans' cottages. The placename has previously been attributed as deriving from the Derbyshire dialect "t'owd moor" (Old Moor). The origins of Toadmoor have been traced back by the Survey of English Place-Names as meaning "toadpool", the earliest reference being in 1397 and associated references suggesting how the name of "toad mire" was later corrupted to become "toad moor" therefore confusing the landscape feature meanings of "mire" and "moor". As the area is a steep-sided valley bottom with notable floodplains, marsh and bog areas adjacent to the River Derwent the "toadpool" definition is more likely. The southerly half of the present village is still shown as Toadmoor on the Ordnance Survey's maps, and the name is retained in the street name Toadmoor Lane. The name "Amber Gate" was originally applied to the tollgate for the Nottingham turnpike, but was adopted by the North Midland Railway for Ambergate railway station on the Derwent Valley line. The turnpike to Matlock was opened in 1818. Until then the main road from Belper northwards had been through Wirksworth and such traffic as there was, would have been mainly cotton from Arkwright's Mill at Cromford. However, the Cromford Canal, opened in 1794, also passes the village. In 1818 the turnpike to Nottingham was opened with a toll house at the junction. The canal towpath can be followed from here to Cromford Wharf, passing High Peak Junction, which is the start of the High Peak Trail). This 6-mile (10 km) section is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and also forms part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way. In 1840 the North Midland Railway opened with a station at 'Amber Gate' which brought trade for 'omnibus and posting conveyance' to Matlock, which was becoming a fashionable spa town. By 1867 there was a through line from London St Pancras to Manchester, as well as to Leeds. Ambergate became an important interchange and, in 1876, Francis Hurt built the 'Hurt Arms' to replace the former 'Thatched House Tavern and Posting House' which the Midland Railway had converted into three cottages (now Midland Place). The main railway line runs through the elliptical Toadmoor Tunnel designed by George Stephenson. In 1791 Benjamin Outram and Samuel Beresford had built kilns at nearby Bullbridge to process limestone from their quarry at Crich. George Stephenson had discovered deposits of coal at Clay Cross and realised that burning lime would provide a use for the slack which otherwise would go to waste. He leased Cliff Quarry at Crich, and built eight limekilns beside the railway. Within a year they had grown to twenty. They were connected by another wagonway known as "The Steep", a 550-yard (500 m) self-acting incline at a slope of 1 in 5. By 1851 the tiny hamlet had grown to a population of 206. In 1876 Richard Johnson and Nephew opened the wireworks by the river. In 1931 the population had reached 901, rising to 1,794 in 1951. The quarry and the wagonway closed in 1957 but the limeworks carried on until 1965 and the passage of the Clean Air Act. The kilns were demolished the following year to build a storage facility and processing plant for natural gas. In 1966 the first fully operational electronic telephone exchange in Europe opened in Ambergate. This was also the first small to medium electronic exchange in the world and the first of many TXE2 type exchanges.

Cromford Canal
Cromford Canal

The Cromford Canal ran 14.5 miles (23.3 kilometres) from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks.From Cromford it ran south following the 275-foot (84 m) contour line along the east side of the valley of the Derwent to Ambergate, where it turned eastwards along the Amber valley. It turned sharply to cross the valley, crossing the river and the Ambergate to Nottingham road, by means of an aqueduct at Bullbridge, before turning towards Ripley. From there the Butterley Tunnel took it through to the Erewash Valley. From the tunnel it continued to Ironville, the junction for the branch to Pinxton, and then descended through fourteen locks to meet the Erewash Canal at Langley Mill. The Pinxton Branch became important as a route for Nottinghamshire coal, via the Erewash, to the River Trent and Leicester and was a terminus of the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway. A 6-mile (9.7 km) long section of the Cromford canal between Cromford and Ambergate is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Local Nature Reserve.In addition to purely canal traffic, there was a lively freight interchange with the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which traversed the plateau of the Peak District from Whaley Bridge in the north west, and which descended to the canal at High Peak Junction by means of an inclined plane.

Great British Car Journey

The Great British Car Journey is a car museum in Ambergate, Derbyshire, England. It opened on 22 May 2021. The museum's exhibits consist of over 130 cars that illustrate the history of British car design and production between 1922 and the present day. Vehicles on display include a Morris Minor Million, Humber Hawk, Austin Allegro, Rover Metro, Mini Clubman, Triumph Toledo, Sinclair C5, DMC DeLorean, Ford Fiesta, Jensen Interceptor, Rover P6, Jaguar XJS and Lotus Esprit. Visitors to the museum are taken on an "interactive journey" and are able to learn about the history of the cars by scanning them with a device. The cars are arranged in groups by decade of production, surrounded by banners and artwork displaying period adverts and graphics. Visitors are able to get close to the cars, so they can "smell the old car smell, marvel at the interiors and jog memories".In addition to the display vehicles are 32 cars—including a Ford Capri, Austin Seven and Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit—that visitors are able to drive around the site, accompanied by an instructor. Visitors are also able to view maintenance work being undertaken on the exhibits.The museum is the idea of Richard Usher, former owner of Blyton Park racing circuit and Auto Windscreens. The idea took shape after Usher was asked if he wanted to buy a low-mileage, mint condition, 1989 Austin Maestro; Usher initially thought 'no', but later reflected on how rare such cars—the everyday cars that a few years ago sold in their millions— had become. Acquiring the cars and establishing the museum took about four years; one of the hardest cars to source was a Vauxhall Chevette, as few had survived out of the half a million that were made and the museum wanted one in a basic trim specification; the display car was eventually bought from Vauxhall. The museum had been scheduled to open in April 2020, but its opening date was delayed a year due to health problems of two of its founders, unforeseen extra costs, flooding at the site, and the COVID-19 pandemic.The museum occupies a 4-acre site of a former wire works, which shut down in 1996 after 120 years of production. The wire works had employed 500 people in its heyday, and during World War II made the telegraph cables that were routed under the English Channel.

Bullbridge Aqueduct
Bullbridge Aqueduct

The Bull Bridge Aqueduct was situated on the Cromford Canal, built in 1794, at Bullbridge east of Ambergate along the Amber Valley, where it turned sharply to cross the valley and the Ambergate to Nottingham road. The Cromford canal is in Derbyshire, England. Known officially as the "Amber Aqueduct", it was actually an earthwork bank surmounted by masonry walls across the valley some thirty feet high in places. It was pierced by three arches. One was for the river. The second was an accommodation arch for the houses behind, which are now the small village known as Bullbridge. The main road passed through the third which was the original Bull Bridge. In 1840, George Stephenson engineered the North Midland Railway to intersect the canal at this point on its way from Ambergate to Wingfield and Stretton, towards Clay Cross and Chesterfield. The lines were laid in the space between the river and the road, but were carried on an embankment over the side road leading to Bullbridge village, which itself was carried by a bridge over the river. A Victorian commentator wrote "river, road, railway and canal were thus piled up, four stories high". To avoid paying compensation to the canal owners, it was necessary to take the railway under the waterway without closing the canal. An iron tank 150 feet (46 m) long, 6 feet (1.8 m) deep and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide was prefabricated in sections at the Butterley Company's ironworks. The sections were assembled on site and floated to the spot, sunk and embedded during the night without interrupting the traffic on the canal. In 1860 the railway bridge (not visible in the picture) failed as a goods train passed over it, but there were no casualties.In the early twentieth century the canal went out of use. Where it crossed the highway, the aqueduct was only wide enough for a single line of traffic and was controlled by traffic lights. In 1968 the road became a feeder route for the newly upgraded A38 towards the M1 and the aqueduct was demolished.

Shining Cliff Woods, Derbyshire
Shining Cliff Woods, Derbyshire

Shining Cliff Woods are on the west bank of the River Derwent near to Ambergate in Derbyshire, England. In medieval times "Schymynde-cliffe" was one of the seven royal parks within Duffield Frith and, as such, belonged to Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster. It was an estate within the manor of Alderwasley and in 1284 was given to William Foun who was given the job of maintaining the boundaries between the Pendleton and Peatpits Brooks. They passed to Thomas Lowe by marriage in 1471 and in 1514 he was granted by Henry VIII the right to "empark and empale" his estate and enjoy "free warren" within it.The woods include an SSSI. Some of the woodland is owned and managed by Grith Fyrd Pioneers, but the Eastern part is (like Alport Height some 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west), in the ownership of the National Trust, and part of their South Peak Estate. This woodland is managed by Forestry England. The woods contain a popular residential centre, once managed by the Youth Hostels Association but managed independently since 2009. The hostel stands in the lee of the Shining Cliff itself, a low gritstone rockface (grid reference SK333523). To the east of Shining Cliff Wood stands Oakhurst House, a 19th-century Jacobean-Arts and Crafts country home which has fallen into partial ruin. It was built by Francis Hurt, landowner and resident of local Alderwasley Hall. The house is in private ownership and not accessible to the public.