£100,000 project to transform historic Whaley Bridge warehouse underway - and it will be open to visitors this weekend

The £100,000 project, funded by the Canal and River Trust and a £10,000 grant from High Peak Borough Council, means the historic Transhipment Warehouse in Whaley Bridge can now be re-purposed from an empty shell to a vibrant new heritage craft skills centre.

Whaley Bridge Canal Group has formed a community interest company to convert the warehouse into a thriving centre of excellence for traditional crafts and the new High Peak Heritage Crafts Centre launches this weekend (August 1 and 2) with a special open air market, offering craft workshop taster sessions and live music, marking the first anniversary of the Toddbrook Dam emergency last summer.

In September, the group plans to open a permanent base at the warehouse, providing public courses in pottery and ceramics, ironmongery, green woodworking, silver-smithing, glassblowing, glass artwork, textiles, wool, weaving and ropework.

Gillian Renshaw, Whaley Bridge community engagement manager with the Canal & River Trust, said: “It has long been our ambition to safeguard this wonderful old canal building and give it a new lease of life.

“We are delighted to have worked closely with the Whaley Bridge Canal Group to rescue the historic warehouse and give it a modern purpose preserving and teaching traditional heritage craft skills. It is a fantastic outcome for a building that was once the beating heart of commercial waterborne trade in the 19th century.

“Built in 1801 and extended in 1832, the warehouse would have been a scene of constant activity, with boats loading and unloading inside the warehouse, protected from the weather by the interior channel.

"The success of the canal trade in limestone, manufactured and raw goods, led to Whaley Bridge developing from a small hamlet into a thriving town, so it’s fitting this important part of our heritage is preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

Work completed by the Canal and River Trust has seen the roof of the building made secure and watertight also includes dredging of the narrow boating channel inside the warehouse which will make it possible for a canal boat to moor once again in the Peak District stone building.

Neville Clarke, founder of the Whaley Bridge Canal Group, said: “This is a combination of so much effort and goodwill from a dedicated team of volunteers, a lot of trades people and businesses over the years, as well as the faith in us shown by the Canal and River Trust.

"We've got a bright future ahead at the Transhipment Warehouse, and so has Whaley Bridge.

"We're creating a new history for the building and the town, and a fantastic asset for the whole community."

The Transhipment Warehouse will also be open to the public this weekend for a special, socially distanced, community celebration, the ‘Whaley Wharf Weekend’, held over Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2 between 11am and 4pm.

For more details about the Peak Forest Canal and restoring Toddbrook Reservoir, see the Canal & River Trust website at www.canalrivertrust.org.uk/restoring-toddbrook-reservoir.