In the late 1860s the decision was made to build a new single-track tramway branch to the New Road (or Top) Lime Kilns at Bugsworth Canal Basin in order to improve the conveyance of limestone to them. Unlike the tramway mainline, this branch was designed to be level, so horses were used to haul loaded waggons along it. Its overall length was about 720 yards and it left the north side of the tramway mainline near a footbridge over the Black Brook.
From the turnout (points) on the mainline, the new branch ran beside the mainline until it reached the first of two stone-built skew bridges. The track bed up to the skew bridges was along the top of a stone-faced causeway some 230-yards long. At the first skew bridge the branch turned away from the mainline to cross over the medieval packhorse route (between Macclesfield and Glossop) and then over the Black Brook. On the far side of the skew bridges the track bed was laid along the top of an embankment, which reduced in height until it reached Brookside in Bugsworth. The branch crossed Brookside on a level crossing where a small stone-built weigh house was used to weigh the limestone being delivered to the kilns.
Beyond the weigh house the branch ran along the north side of the kiln heads to end just beyond the eighth kiln in the battery. The limestone in the tramway waggons was then shovelled into the kiln pots for burning (calcining). On the south side of the kiln heads was the stone face of the kiln battery and at the foot of this there were draw holes where burnt lime (quick lime) and waste were drawn from the bottom of the kilns.
A short tramway incline to the foot of the kilns was also provided for a special purpose. It was the job of 'lime pickers' to remove lumps of unburnt limestone from the kiln draw holes and put them into waggons to be hauled up to the top where they would either be passed through the kilns again or taken away to be crushed for use in road repair, road making or railway line ballast. This became known as the ‘Bull's Head line’ because of its proximity to the inn of that name on New Road in the centre of Bugsworth village. The lumps of unburnt limestone became known, in the vernacular, as 'bull-yeads'.
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The two skew bridges on the Elevated Tramway Branch looking west, 1976. The nearer bridge is over the medieval packhorse route and the farther one is over the Black Brook. The tramway mainline is off the picture to the left. |
The Elevated Tramway Branch looking east along the causeway, 1977. This view is from the bridge over the medieval packhorse route. The tramway mainline is off the picture to the right. |