East Buxton Lime Kiln - Millers Dale, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 53° 15.398 W 001° 48.182
30U E 579850 N 5901488
These large lime kilns stand next to a former railway line. They were operated by the East Buxton Lime Firms, an amalgamation of thirteen companies that later merged together.
Waymark Code: WMRJND
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/29/2016
Views: 3
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The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway ran from a junction with the Midland Railway at Ambergate to Rowsley north of Matlock and thence to Buxton.
In time it would become part of the Midland Railway's main line between London and Manchester, but it was initially planned as a route from Manchester to the East of England, via the proposed Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway which would meet it a little further north along the North Midland line at Ambergate. The Act for a line from just south of Stockport to Ambergate was passed in 1846."
link
Monsal Trail
"The Monsal Trail is a traffic free route for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users through some of the Peak District's most spectacular limestone dales.
The trail runs along the former Midland Railway line for 8.5 miles between Blackwell Mill, in Chee Dale and Coombs Road, at Bakewell.
The Lime Kilns
The kilns have concrete buttresses that were added to strengthen the kilns in the 1920s. A nearby information board has the following information.
East Buxton Lime
Imagine these lime kilns burning and the heat that you would feel as you stand looking at these imposing buttresses.
From 1880 until 1944, this structure housed lime kilns that produced over 50 tonnes of quicklime a day. During the 19th century, the demand for quicklime increased for the growing steel and chemical industries as well as agriculture. To meet this demand, limestone quarries and kilns opened next to railways like this Midland line, now the Monsal Trail. The trucks would bring in coal to burn in the kilns and take the quicklime away.
Take a look inside and imagine how a man and a boy would work drawing out the quicklime from each 'eye'. This would have been very unpleasant as lime was caustic and would burn your skin.
A diagram on the board shows limestone and coal being loaded into the top of a kiln, firewood at the bottom of the kiln to start the burning and quicklime being removed from the bottom of the kiln.
It is possible to enter the bottom part of the kilns and see where the quick lime was extracted.