Shardlow
| Shardlow | |
|---|---|
 Main wharf, Shardlow |
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 Shardlow
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| Shardlow shown within Derbyshire | |
| OS grid reference | SK437302 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | DERBY |
| Postcode district | DE72 |
| Police | Derbyshire |
| Fire | Derbyshire |
| Ambulance | East Midlands |
| EU Parliament | East Midlands |
Shardlow is a village in Derbyshire, England about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of Derby and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Nottingham. Part of the civil parish of Shardlow and Great Wilne, and the district of South Derbyshire, it is also very close to the border with Leicestershire, defined by route of the River Trent which passes close to the south. Just across the Trent is the Castle Donington parish of North West Leicestershire.
An important late 18th century river port for the transshipment of goods to and from the River Trent to the Trent and Mersey Canal, during its heyday from the 1770s to the 1840s it became referred to as "Rural Rotterdam" and "Little Liverpool". Today Shardlow is considered Britains most complete surviving example of a canal village, with over 50 Grade II listed buildings and a large number of surviving public houses within the designated Shardlow Wharf Conservation Area.
Due to its location on the River Trent, which up to this point is easily navigable, there is much early evidence of human activity in the area, dating back to 1500 BC. In 1999 the 12-foot-long (3.7 m) 1300 BC Hanson Log Boat, a Bronze Age log boat was discovered at the nearby Hanson plc gravel pit. Sawn into sections so that it could be transported and conserved, the boat is now in Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Five years later, a JCB in the quarry unearthed a bronze sword imbedded in a vertical position in the gravel. There is also a stone age tumulus at Lockington, an Iron Age settlement between Shardlow/Wilne and the river, and later Roman finds at Great Wilne.
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Wikipedia