History
The town of Buxton sits on the edge of a plateau of limestone, and ever since the ancient times has been dug up and used for multiple purposes, such as in construction and agriculture. Limestone remains a useful resource to this day and is used in multiple industries, including in textiles, glass manufacturing as well as in pharmaceuticals, some food products and even toothpaste.
The land around Buxton has been shaped by the industrial revolution and the increase in the demand of a byproduct of limestone, quicklime, in the production of steel and for use in other chemicals. If you look around the area you will find the remains of many mines and hills carved away by quarries over the ages. Buxton was very much founded on the back of this industry, from its people moving to the area to work the land, to the very mortar and stone that its buildings were built with. Although the extraction of limestone remains an important part of Buxton, most quarries and mines have since closed as demand decreased and other sources of limestone were found for cheaper prices.
One such Quarry was Cowdale Quarry. It is located on the top of the valley just east of Buxton over looking the river Wye. On the side of the valley to its north is Cowdale Lime works, which was built to process the excavated limestone to quicklime and be transported to steel and chemical plants via the railway that ran past it through the valley. More history about this site can be found in previous reports (https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/cowdale-lime-works-buxton-derbyshire-september-2014.123756/)
Today many of the structures remain, with exception of the main power house which was demolished before the site could be scheduled (a way of protecting historic buildings/sites) by English Heritage. The building were built of cast concrete in an Egyptian Revival style.
During the late 1800’s and through to the 1930’s there was a fascination for ancient Egypt set off by the conquests of Napoleon into Egypt and the publication of his findings into several volumes, which became the inspiration for architects at the time. Ever wondered why there are random obelisks (stone pillars) around the UK, or why 1920’s era cinemas look the way they do? Well now you know.
It’s kilns, built into the side of the rock, and could produce around 30-50 tons of quicklime per day by using coal to burn the limestone at 900°C. To deal with the shear weight of all that rock the kilns were reenforced with beautiful buttresses. At the base of each kiln is a small tunnel which allowed workers access to the eyes of the kiln (the rusted bin looking things) where the quicklime would collect and it would be shovelled into carts and loaded onto trains.
The explore
It was a pretty humid explore, but pretty relaxed once I was out of site of the workers in the neighbouring quarry that is still active. A lot of the site is overgrown and multiple trees have fallen on the paths, also I somehow managed to lose my footing and slide down a hill on my butt haha.
Overall it was a very enjoyable explore, and trying to find the next building in all of the foliage lead to the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, even through the A6 was just 100 metres down the hill.
Enjoy the pictures
The town of Buxton sits on the edge of a plateau of limestone, and ever since the ancient times has been dug up and used for multiple purposes, such as in construction and agriculture. Limestone remains a useful resource to this day and is used in multiple industries, including in textiles, glass manufacturing as well as in pharmaceuticals, some food products and even toothpaste.
The land around Buxton has been shaped by the industrial revolution and the increase in the demand of a byproduct of limestone, quicklime, in the production of steel and for use in other chemicals. If you look around the area you will find the remains of many mines and hills carved away by quarries over the ages. Buxton was very much founded on the back of this industry, from its people moving to the area to work the land, to the very mortar and stone that its buildings were built with. Although the extraction of limestone remains an important part of Buxton, most quarries and mines have since closed as demand decreased and other sources of limestone were found for cheaper prices.
One such Quarry was Cowdale Quarry. It is located on the top of the valley just east of Buxton over looking the river Wye. On the side of the valley to its north is Cowdale Lime works, which was built to process the excavated limestone to quicklime and be transported to steel and chemical plants via the railway that ran past it through the valley. More history about this site can be found in previous reports (https://www.28dayslater.co.uk/threads/cowdale-lime-works-buxton-derbyshire-september-2014.123756/)
Today many of the structures remain, with exception of the main power house which was demolished before the site could be scheduled (a way of protecting historic buildings/sites) by English Heritage. The building were built of cast concrete in an Egyptian Revival style.
During the late 1800’s and through to the 1930’s there was a fascination for ancient Egypt set off by the conquests of Napoleon into Egypt and the publication of his findings into several volumes, which became the inspiration for architects at the time. Ever wondered why there are random obelisks (stone pillars) around the UK, or why 1920’s era cinemas look the way they do? Well now you know.
It’s kilns, built into the side of the rock, and could produce around 30-50 tons of quicklime per day by using coal to burn the limestone at 900°C. To deal with the shear weight of all that rock the kilns were reenforced with beautiful buttresses. At the base of each kiln is a small tunnel which allowed workers access to the eyes of the kiln (the rusted bin looking things) where the quicklime would collect and it would be shovelled into carts and loaded onto trains.
The explore
It was a pretty humid explore, but pretty relaxed once I was out of site of the workers in the neighbouring quarry that is still active. A lot of the site is overgrown and multiple trees have fallen on the paths, also I somehow managed to lose my footing and slide down a hill on my butt haha.
Overall it was a very enjoyable explore, and trying to find the next building in all of the foliage lead to the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, even through the A6 was just 100 metres down the hill.
Enjoy the pictures
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