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Buxworth



BuxworthThe Peak District village of Buxworth is situated around two miles from Whaley Bridge.

Originally known as Bugsworth, which derived from the Anglo-Saxon Bucga's Worth meaning Bucga's Enclosure"), it was changed by residents in the early part pf the twentieth century.

Eccles Pike has a circular plaque identifying the places visible around the attractive 360 degrees panorama from its summit and makes an interesting walk from the village.

The nearby Chestnut Centre Otter, Owl and Wildlife Park at Chapel-en-le-Frith consists of over 50 acres of landscaped grounds. The park is home to many otters, 16 species of owls and other indigenous wildlife including, buzzards, pine martens, polecats, foxes, Scottish wildcats and deer.

The village pub, the Navigation Inn, (pictured right) was once owned by Coronation Street actress Pat Phoenix, who played Elsie Tanner. The pub serves food and offers accommodation.

The Peak Forest Canal terminates at Buxworth at the Bugsworth Basin


The Bugsworth Basin

Situated on the edge of the Peak District National Park, Bugsworth Basin was once one of the largest inland ports on the canal system and was opened in 1796 for the transport of limestone from quarries around Buxton to Manchester.

The basin has one of the best-preserved canal-tramway interchanges and today is a world class site of industrial archaeology and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Bugsworth Basin was closed in 1927 due to the dominance of the railways and by the 1960s had become dry. Work on the restoration of the then derelict basin began in 1968.

It was restored by volunteers of the Inland Waterways Protection Society and the Waterway Recovery Group. The basin was reopened to boats at the Easter of 1999. However due to a collapse in the walls it was closed in the October of the same year. It was reopened for a second time in 2005 after a £1.2 million restoration carried out by British Waterways.

The Bugsworth Basin Exhibition presents a display of photographs, artifacts, models, etc, telling the history of the Peak Forest Canal and Tramway and the village, and is housed in the nearby cabin. The exhibition includes images from around 1900, maps, aerial photographs, images of local people, then and now photos, before and after photos of the restoration, and descriptions of the operations at Bugsworth Basin and the Peak Forest Tramway.


Nearby places of interest

Kinder Scout, a moorland plateau, rising to 636 metres (2,087 ft) which is highest point in the Peak District.

Lyme Park is situated in a spectacular moorland setting at Disley near Stockport on the edge of the Peak District National Park. The house and surrounding estate are owned by the National Trust. The lavishly decorated Italianate house has spectacular seventeen acre gardens, which include the Victorian Garden and Edwardian rose garden.

Mellor Iron Age Fort Iron Age settlement discovered in the 1990's, occupied from the Bronze Age to the Romano-British period, featuring a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse.

Dunge Valley Gardens are situated just to the west of Windgather Rocks and are well worth a visit, especially in April and May when the rhododendron's are in bloom.

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