Lime Kilns At Peak Forest Canal Basin - Buxworth, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 20.109 W 001° 58.138
30U E 568655 N 5910050
These lime kilns were built at the end of the 18th Century to process limestone from quarries 6 miles (10 kilometres) away.
Waymark Code: WMKXNK
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/09/2014
Views: 1
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.
The basin and these lime kilns are a Scheduled Ancient Monument and protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
Type of Oven / Kiln: Lime / Limestone
Status: Historical Site
Operating Dates: 1796 to the 1920s
Additional Coordinate: N 53° 20.125 W 001° 58.167
Additional Coordinate Description:
On the other side of the canal from these kilns is a 3D model of the site and information plaque describing the site and the operation of the kilns.
Website: [Web Link]
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