Above: The orange circle shows where the photo was taken – approching Tunstead from the footbridge over the quarry’s railway line.
Tunstead Quarry lies just a few miles east of Buxton and is the UK’s largest limestone quarry, covering some 840 acres. It was so important to the local economy that when the Peak District National Park was created in 1951, the planners excluded a wide area around the site. Which is why Buxton lies outside its borders and is known as the ‘Gateway to the Peak District’.
I only recently discovered a public footpath going through the northern end of the quarry that’s within fairly easy walking distance of the Monsal Trail (click for route description). The views from the footpath show just how vast the site is, and I was intrigued to learn more about its history.
Above: This satellite image gives a good view of the site with Tunstead to the left and Old Moor to the right, and the footpath crossing the Great Rocks Line.
Great Rocks Dale
It comprises two quarries lying either side of Great Rocks Dale, which stretches from Peak Dale to Blackwell Mill; Tunstead to the west which was opened in 1929, and Old Moor to the east which opened in the mid 1980s.
The Great Rocks Line railway runs between the two quarries, taking limestone and cement south to Buxton or north through Peak Forest and on to Sheffield or Manchester.
The southern route once connected to the railway that ran between Bakewell and Blackwell Mill, near Buxton – today’s Monsal Trail.
Above: Support is growing for the campaign to introduce small electric-powered trains to connect the end of the Monsal Trail to Buxton.
Campaigns by two opposing groups are currently petitioning to reopen this link (click for details). One group wants to reinstate the railway along the entire Monsal Trail to reduce the number of cars and lorries using local roads.
The other group wants to keep the Trail as a walking and cycling route, and to use small electric trains to take passengers and their cycles from the old platform at Blackwell Mill into Buxton along the existing Great Rocks Line (click for details).
My view, for what it’s worth, is that the cost of reinstating the rail line – estimated at up to £2bn – means it’s highly unlikely to proceed. And that linking the Trail to Buxton would provide signficant benefits to the town at a fraction of the cost.
I’ve put links to both petitions on this page.
