and
The Peak Forest Tramway
Bugsworth Basin in located on the Upper Peak Forest Canal approximately one mile north of Whaley Bridge.
The village where the basin was constructed is now known as Buxworth but it has been known as Buggisworth, Bougesworth, Buggesword and Bugsworth. When the area was an active transshipment center the village was called Bugsworth and this is generally the name given to the canal basin. To pacify the feelings of the local people the name of the village was changed to Buxworth in 1930.
The primary reason for constructing the Peak Forest Canal was to provide an economical means of transporting limestone from the Dove Holes quarries at Buxton; limestone was in much demand to satisfy the building needs of the Industrial Revolution. The original design called for a canal to Chapel Milton (2½ miles further on than Whaley Bridge) and then a connecting horse-operated tramway to the quarries some four miles away and several hundred feet higher. As a cost saving measure the plan was revised; the less expensive tramway was extended a further 2½ miles to a simple terminal basin at Bugsworth and the more expensive canal was terminated at Whaley Bridge.
Construction of the canal and tramway was under the direction of the notable Derbyshire engineer, Benjamin Outram, and was completed in 1800. Horse drawn wagons brought the limestone down the 6½ mile long "Peak Forest" tramway and it was either tipped into the waiting canal boats or the newly constructed limekilns for burning into lime. A rope operated inclined plane was built at Chapel-en-le-Frith where loaded descending wagons pulled the empty wagons up the 1 in 7½ slope for a distance of 500 yards.
Originally the Peak limestone was burned close to the quarries using local sources of coal. The opening of the canal meant that coal could now be brought in, but hauling it up the tramway with horse drawn wagons was not practical therefore limekilns were built at Bugsworth Basin. The area soon became a bustling canal center with boats bringing in coal for the kilns and taking out lime and limestone. By 1803 the demand was so great that the tramway was doubled in size and over the next 40 years new basins and arms were dug. On entering Bugsworth from the canal there was a Gauging Stop Lock then came the Entrance Basin, the Lower Basin, an area called "The Wide", the Middle Basin and finally the Upper Basin. Warehouses were located on the Middle and Lower Basins. In 1846 the canal company sold out to the MSLR (Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway) but Bugsworth continued to grow as a transshipment center. In the 1860s the railway company built a stone crusher at the end of the Lower Basin to provide ballast for their railway tracks and this added to the volume of traffic; by 1880 the Basin was loading and unloading between 30 to 40 boats a day.
The Peak Forest Tramway continued to be operated by horse power until it was closed by the LNER in 1925; the tracks were dismantled in 1938 and Bugsworth Basin was left to decay
The Inland Waterways Protection Society as been actively involved in restoring this hidden wonder of the waterways. With the help of voluntary labor the site has been cleared of debris and the routes of the tramways clearly marked.
Hopefully it will not be long before boats will once again be able to navigate into Bugsworth Basin.