You are exploring part of the Butterley Gangroad, first built in 1793 to link local quarries with the Cromford Canal. It was one of the first railways in the East Midlands, and maybe the world, where a steam locomotive operated successfully.
The section of the Butterley Gangroad between the south portal of the Fritchley tunnel and the Bowmer Lane crossing is well preserved. The long straight stone embankment (line of trees running parallel with Bowmer Lane on the edge of the field on the left side of the lane) with walls either side dates back to the 1850s when the gangroad was modernised (solid red line on the map below and the photographs). Towards the southern end there is a kink where the route curves to follow the contour of the hillside and this is where the straightening ended when the modernisation was completed. The route south of the kink is the original route dating back to 1793 when the gangroad was built. The original route north of the kink followed the contour of the hillside up the field between the lane and the re-aligned route.
The top photograph below shows the re-aligned route south of the Fritchley tunnel and the bottom photograph shows the original route after the kink in the line two thirds of the way down Bowmer Lane.
The two photographs below show the embankment from the other side looking back across towards Bowmer Lane. The top photograph shows the northern re-aligned section and the bottom photograph shows the embankment looking north up to Fritchley from the Bowmer Lane crossing.
The Butterley Gangroad project was led by the Derbyshire Archaeological Society and was funded by a Heritage Lottery grant and all the above information and photographs has been provided with the permission of the Society.
Further information can be found at www.butterleygangroadproject.co.uk.