Peak Experience

 

 

The Peak District was alive with expanding industry during the 1700s and 1800s – and all those valuable exports needed transporting.

 

Peak Tramway  Monsal Dale Viaduct has spectacular views  Cromford Canal

 

Spun silk and cotton had to find their way to dyeworks, limestone from the quarries to the building sites or kilns, and millstones to the rest of England and beyond.  Lead ore was destined for crushing mills and  smelters, and copper transported between mining and processing sites.

 

Of the great transport networks the canals came first, but never penetrated the Peak District Park boundaries.  Cromford and Peak Forest Canals came closest to the border.  There were plans to link them by another waterway, but that never happened.  Eventually they were linked by the Cromford and High Peak Railway.

 

Next came tramways and later the railways.  The resulting network of transportation routes by road, rail and waterway gave industries access to outside markets and the means to import the goods and resources.

 

Most of the routes have since closed down and many are now walking or cycle trails.  You can enjoy them not only for their historical interest, but for their spectacular scenery and abundant wildlife too.

 

 

Visit one of the largest inland ports ever built!  And one of Britain’s best preserved.  Imagine Dove Holes limestone rattling its way down to Bugsworth Basin on Peak Forest Tramway wagons.  Then it was onward to Manchester by barge, along the Peak Forest Canal.

 

There’s plenty to see here and you can walk the tramway trail, so quiet today that all you can hear is birdsong and the buzz of insects.

 

Download a sefl-guided trail along the historic route of the Peak Forest Tramway between Bugworth Basin and Charley Lane.

 

 

A narrow boat passes High Peak Junction  Inside Leawood pumphouse on the Cromford Canal near High Peak Junction

 

See the railway workshops at High Peak Junction and the nearby Leawood Pumphouse, both part of the Derwent Valley World Heritage Site

 

Don’t miss the Cromford Canal Wharf, part of Derwent Valley World Heritage Site.  There are well-preserved buildings, including warehouses, counting house and cottages.

 

Now the noisy Cromford and High Peak Railway which once linked Peak Forest and Cromford Canals is no more.  But you can still enjoy the spectacular route through the national park –  on two wheels instead.  Peak Cycle Hire stations at Ashbourne, Parsley Hay and Middleton Top along the High Peak and Tissington Trails offer you the chance to ride your way back into the Peak’s industrial past.

 

Millers Dale station was once an important junction where passengers for Buxton changed from the London to Manchester main line  The Monsal Dale Viaduct was on the main line to London. Today it is part of the Monsal Dale Trail, where you can savour spectacular views of the valley

All three of the Peak Cycle Hire stations have car parking.  Ashbourne and Parsley Hay stations are off the A515 and Middleton Top is on the B5035 just 1 km north of Wirksworth.

 

Monsal Dale Viaduct, Millers Dale and Monsal Dale stations can all be viewed from the Monsal Trail.  There is parking at Millers Dale Station to the west or Monsal Head to the East.  Millers Dale Station has an interpretation panel.

 

Dove Holes quarry near Smalldale village is still in operation and there are walks around the site.  Park at Dove Holes Station.  Bugsworth Basin (B6062) lies between Whaley Bridge and Chinley.  The Navigation Inn offers parking to customers and a convenient site from which to explore the basin.  The Leawood Pumphouse is on the A6 and has parking close by.