Bugsworth Basin
The 18th Century had seen the development of the canal network in the UK to carry heavy goods, and led to towns such as Manchester become the first large industrial towns.
There was a demand for limestone and grit stone from the nearby quarries to be transported to Manchester and beyond and so the Peak Forest Canal was built with a connection to the Ashton Canal at Ashton-Under-Lyne.
The canal had a series of 16 locks to lift the canal a height of 209 feet from Ashton-Under-Lyne to this point, but the final rise to the quarries was to high for a canal. So a horse drawn tramway was built to form a connection between the canal junction here and the quarries themselves.
Much of the output from the quarries was loaded directly onto the canal boats but there was also a total of 19 lime kilns on this site to process the limestone into quick lime.
The wagons from the tramway took the limestone at a high level to the top of the kilns. After processing the processed quick lime was extracted from the bottom of the kiln and loaded onto the canal boats. A model of the site and information panel on the other side of the canal describe the operation of the site.
The site operated between 1796 until the 1920s. The canal and this basin was closed down and allowed to become derelict. However in the 1960s and 1970s leisure boating became popular and many canals were renovated and re-opened for leisure purposes.
Most of the Peak Forest Canal reopened 1974 and at that time terminated at Whaley Bridge. The remainder of the canal and this basin was reopened in 1999. However a major leak from the canal needed further renovation and it didn’t fully re-open until 2003. Much of the tramway has also been converted into a walking trail.
The basin is now protected as
Scheduled Ancient Monument number 242 under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
It should be noted that the name of the nearby village changes its name from Bugsworth to Buxworth in 1930, but the basin continues to be called Bugsworth basin.
The sign is between the end of the Peak Forest Canal top basin and the start of the Peak Forest Tramway and has information about the tramway. Part of the tramway has been converted to a hiking trail about 2.6 km long (1.6 miles). The sign has a map of the trail and also shows where the rest of the tramway used to run.
The text of the sign
Peak Forest Tramway
Over a hundred years ago the quiet footpath in
front of you was a tramway track. A railway with
a difference – here there was no hissing of
steam! Instead, imagine the sound of horses’
hooves and the rattle of wagons being pulled
along a track known as the Peak Forest Tramway.
The tramway and the nearby
canal were developed together
as a means of transporting
limestone from quarries at Dove
Holes onto the canal network.
Limestone was in demand for use
in the many different industries
of Cheshire and Lancashire.
Using the natural incline of the
hills, the wagons rolled down to
Bugsworth Basin. A workman
known as a wagoner who was in
charge of the team of horses and
wagons supervised the journey
by riding on the side of a wagon.
Teams of horses were used to
pull the wagons back up.
Many local people were
employed on the tramway and
in the mills that grew up along
the route as a result of its
Success. Several of the original
mill buildings are still in use.
A short way up the trail is one
such mill, Whitehall Works at
Whitehough.
Spot the Tramway
With no rails left to show the
route of the tramway the only
visible clue is the occasional
stone sleeper block that the rails
were fixed upon. Further along
The trail, they are still in position.
At Bugsworth Basin they are
along the side of the path just a
short distance from Crist Quarry
where they were extracted.
A bed of hard gritstone was
discovered when the route for
the tramway was being
excavated. Realising that they
had found a hard-wearing
stone, the constructors built a
connecting line to the quarry
from the tramway.
As well as the sleeper blocks for
the tramway, the stone was
used to build the warehouses,
bridges and locks along the
canal. The quarry has now
completely disappeared into
the surrounding landscape.
Underneath a picture of a young boy with a horse is the following story
"Hello. I'm Harry the 'nipper'!
I'm called a nipper, not because
I'm small (I'm really tall for
twelve!), but because that's the
name they give us lads who
work on the tramway.
I help with the horses. This team
is going to pull these wagons up
the line until we swap with a
fresh team.
Follow us up the track and I'll
tell you more about our job
further along."