tarboat's photos with the keyword: limeworks

Tufa calcite deposits below the vast lime waste tips at the former Harpur Hill limeworks of Buxton Lime Firms Ltd. Great care has to be taken around these deposits due to the high alkilnity of the water which exceeds pH 12 in the lagoon immediately below the tips. The following explanation is taken from this fascinating report. The Harpur Hill Site: its geology, evolutionary history and a catalogue of materials present Report number: CR/13/104 British Geological Survey Commissioned Report, May 2015. Authors: Antoni Edward Milodowski, British Geological Survey. Douglas I Stewart, University of Leeds. www.researchgate.net/publication/289335354_The_Harpur_Hill_Site_its_geology_evolutionary_history_and_a_catalogue_of_materials_present The site at Harpur Hill was developed in the 1830’s for the large scale production of lime for the agricultural, building and chemical industries, which continued until the early 1950’s when production on this site ended. Lime production was an inefficient process leading to the creation of large amounts of waste in the form of under- and over-burnt limestone, lime fines, and ash from the low quality local coal used in the process. This waste has been deposited in tips at a number of locations at Harpur Hill, one of the larger tips being created by ‘tumble tipping’ over the side of the Brook Bottom valley, close to one of the banks of lime kilns. The valley carries an ephemeral stream at this location, which has been culverted under the tip, though the culvert is now largely blocked by calcium carbonate deposited within it. Because the waste is partly comprised of calcined limestone, it reacts with water which hydrates the burnt lime and forms a calcium hydroxide-dominated leachate with a pH of greater than 12. The leachate migrates through the tip and emerges from its base into the Brook Bottom valley. Here, contact with atmospheric carbon dioxide and mixing with local bicarbonate water leads to precipitation of calcium carbonate. This has led to the development of an extensive tract of fine grained and soft tufa deposits of calcium carbonate over a large area of the valley bottom downstream of the spoil tip. Where largely undiluted by fresh water, the fluid in the resulting lagoon in the vicinity of the tip base maintains a high pH (>12). Mixing with fresh water inflows and uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide occurs as the surface water flows downstream, resulting in continued calcium carbonate deposition and pH reduction. Most of the precipitation of calcium carbonate occurs in the first 400 m or so and the alkalinity, except in dry weather conditions, drops to around pH 8 over this distance. However small amounts of calcium carbonate deposition occurs for up to 2 km downstream. The leaching of the lime waste by percolating rainwater and shallow groundwater, and the development of the ‘lagoon’ of calcium carbonate precipitate, has probably been occurring since soon after waste tipping on the side of the valley commenced. Precipitation is continuing today, over 60 years since lime production ceased at Harpur Hill, and around 100 years after the bulk of the waste on this part of the site had been tipped and this tip ceased to be utilised for waste disposal (more recently waste has been tipped elsewhere in the quarry complex to the east, including into worked out areas of the quarry as production methods and kiln locations changed).

The limeworks at Peak Forest operated earthen 'Sale Kilns' for the commercial production of lime from at least the beginning of the 18th century through, possibly beyond, the first quarter of the 19th century. This image shows just part of the south-eastern section of a limeworks that operated over its life some 138 individual kilns. Not all operated at once and the numbers in use varied from 4 to 10 at different times in the 18th century. The burned lime was sold and removed by pack horse and sometimes by cart. The operation of the kilns was leased by the Chatsworth Estate to various limeburners apart from a perion in the early 19th century when limeburning was taken in house. Three kilns can be seen here starting with a large one just left of centre. A second kiln is againt the track to the right of centre, and a third lies just left of the trees at the far end of the track which is heading for the turnpike road. The land to the left of the kilns is where the limetone for burning in the kilns was quarried and barrowed to the kilns. The large mound to the left comprises waste material taken from another kiln just out of shot.

Pant y Ffynnon Limekilns in the Black Mountains of Wales close to Foel Fawr. The OS map surveyed in 1885 shows seven kilns in a line below this quarry. Four of the kiln sites can be seen in the centre of this view with their tips spread out to the right with the lighter coloured calcareous kiln waste material below them.

The Bellmanpark Limeworks is long abandoned at the end of the former tramroad that brought the stone down from the quarry. The kilns were hidden away amongst the trees could take some finding, but have now been cleared by a local group keen to see them conserved. There are four kilns that were, unusually, served on two sides by railway sidings that ran into the kiln bank on both sides so that each kiln could be drawn into two trucks simultaneously.

The Bellmanpark Limeworks is long abandoned at the end of the former tramroad that brought the stone down from the quarry. The kilns are hidden away amongst the trees and take some finding. There are four kilns that were, unusually, served on two sides by railway sidings that ran into the kiln bank on both sides so that each kiln could be drawn into two trucks simultaneously. Inside the draw tunnels there is this vaulting at the base of each kiln and here can be seen the draw hole with firebrick above and the railway siding running into the arches left and right.

Natural processes take over at Cocking Limeworks. Draw hole of a disused limekiln.