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Marple Lime Kilns

If you'd walked the hills of Mellor 200 years ago and followed the line of Marple's brand new Peak Forest Canal with your eye, you'd have been amazed to discover an ancient medieval castle with tall chimneys churning out great clouds of smoke into the sky.

The area would have been a hive of industry, with people scurrying to and fro, canal barges loading and offloading, horse drawn carts arriving and departing from covered despatch buildings and wagons on rails being pulled by mules.

The Lime Kilns collapse in the 1960s/70s

You might think you were gazing at an ancient monastery built by a strange sect of monks, or perhaps the ruins of an old cathedral being reused for some unexplained purpose. You would have been forgiven for these thoughts, as it was the designer's intention that you be deceived. Having no wish to spoil the view from his favourite spot on the Mellor hillside, where he often sat to survey his accomplishments, Samuel Oldknow chose this unique design for the Lime Kilns at the heart of his new industrial complex on the embankment of the Peak Forest Canal.

The main objective of the new canal was to improve the transportation of bulk manufactured goods and raw materials, particularly limestone from the quarries at Dove Holes, high up in the Peak Forest. Oldknow employed mainly women and children in his mill at Mellor and recognised that as well as these direct benefits, the canal would provide increased employment for the men of the district. He became its chief promoter and a major shareholder in the canal company, so it was a logical step for him to construct the Lime Kilns and take further advantage of the investment he'd already made in the canal's construction.

Read More on Maple Lime Kilns here