Derbyshire

Remains of a three entrance intermittent limekiln close to the main road at Tideswell Moor in Derbyshire. Large clamp kilns of this type were used across the White Peak in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to produce lime for local use.

A very pleasant visit to the preserved colliery site at Pleasley where the volunteers were most accommodating and informative. The view here is from the driver's seat at the Lilleshall Company built winding engine for the downcast shaft.

This building contains a double single cylinder beam geared haulage engine that was built in 1829 by the Butterley Company to wind wagons on the 708 yard Middleton Incline on a gradient of 1 in 8.25. The incline was closed in summer 1963 and the engine is now in the care of Derbyshire County Council. On some open days it is run using compressed air.

Colliery soughs are well worth seeking out and this example probably dates from the early nineteenth century. Originally used as a drainage and tramming level with a tramroad to take the coal down to a yard by the nearby road. It served to drain, amongst others, Thornsett Hey Colliery and the splendidly named Cave Abdullam Pit, and the abandonment plans suggest that mining ceased here in 1886. The trademark ochreous silt that usually marks old coal workings is present in large quantities here along this stone arched section which comprises the first 167 yards of the 649 yard tunnel. Plenty of water still issues from the sough.

The company's original name was Campbell Brickworks and was built adjacent to the now defunct Campbell colliery. Following successive Nationalisation and De-nationalisation programmes involving both the Coal Board and the British Steel Corporation it was sold by BSC to a private company, Innes Lee Industries, in 1971. In 1988 Innes Lee sold their brickworks to Tarmac Building Materials, who ran the site for four years before its closure in 1992. The company was then purchased by the present owners in May 1993, and reopened as Phoenix Brick Company Limited. The kilns are fired on methane extracted from landfill in the old claypits.

One of two rotary lime kilns at the Tunstead Quarry of Buxton Lime Industries. This has now been replaced with a highly efficient Maerz kiln.

The lime dust in the atmosphere around the Tunstead quarry and limekilns collects as an encrustation on everything it touches.

Road bridge over the River Goyt at New Mills, Derbyshire, just before it is joined by the River Sett in the gorge known as The Torrs.

Bridge at the entrance to the end basin of the Bugsworth Basins on the Peak Forest Canal in Derbyshire. Limestone was transferred to boats from the Peak Forest Tramway at this point.

A single tree stands behind this lonely barn in the White Peak near Youlgreave.

The headgear of the Bradwell Spar Mine in Derbyshire, UK, stands forlorn beside the road at the dismantled works.

The disused Magpie lead mine in Derbyshire UK. These are the best preserved surface remains to be found on any of the old Derbyshire lead mines.

A large modern limestone quarry plant near Buxton

A different perspective on the massive Tunstead quarry and cement works of Buxton Lime Industries. This is an evening view taken from the Ashbourne road close to the Dowlow Quarries.

Abandoned since 1983 the Pleasley Colliery site is still impressive.

The six sail Heage windmill is an excellent example of local preservation. The enthusiastic group that run the mill provide informative guided tours on Sundays throughout the summer. To see the sails moving round in the breeze was an inspiring sight.

The Tunstead Quarry of Buxton Lime Industries (Tarmac) has so many different possibilities for different photographs. Prominent in the centre of this view is a rotary lime kiln.

The terminal warehouse at Whaley Bridge on the Peak Forest Canal provided facilities for interchange between canal and the Cromford and High Peak Railway. The building was extended in the early twentieth century but today stands looking rather forlorn.