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| Wirksworth is located at the southerly end of the exposure of Carboniferous limestone that forms the uplands of the Peak district and the great fold of the Pennine Chain and the high lands of Lancashire and Yorkshire Although mineral extraction has been an important part of Wirksworth's existence it was lead mining that was the driving force from Roman times up to the nineteenth century, it was mainly on a non industrial scale around Wirksworth and many miners spent part of the year on smallholdings. The trade in the limestone itself is a more recent phenomenon and the fact that limestone quarrying developed providing regular income and was the lifeblood of the railway in the final 35 years of its commercial existence. (500,000 tons per year were dispatched till the mid sixties) Although it was usual for lines to be built in the nineteenth century to tap a mineral resource this was not the case at Wirksworth, the line primarily being seen as a route to the north to thwart another plan by the LNWR (this is covered at length in Howard Sprenger's book 'The Wirksworth Branch'). Once the line was built however it gave an easy and cheaper outlet to possible customers and led the rapid development of the string of quarries that are such a feature of Wirksworth today. |
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So, the history of the quarries pre-dates that of the railway. The arrival of the railway was not for the intended benefit of the quarries. As the two have co-existed for over 100 years the activities of each have become entwined. From the 1960s onward both have steadily fallen into some degrees of decline. With the arrival of Railway Enthusiasts at about the start of the new millenium the resurection of the railway has quite naturally aroused interest in what has shaped the industrial and social history of the area. |
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