The History of Bugsworth Basin
Bugsworth Basin in Derbyshire, on the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal. offers wonderful insights into our industrial history and still possesses some amazing industrial archaeology.

In its heyday during the 1880s, the canal basins here were shipping out up to 600 tons of limestone per day, but by 1921 traffic had ceased and in 1923 the Bugsworth arm and basins effectively closed, though during the Second World War the arm was opened for a very short period for the carriage of limestone after minor repairs had been done to the bed. Since the 1940's the site gradually became silted up and overgrown and in the late 1960s the Inland Waterways Protection Society (IWPS) were given permission by the British Waterways Board to commence the restoration of the canal arm. For more than 40 years the IWPS strove to restore this historically important complex. It is now a scheduled Ancient Monument and attracts more than 50,000 visitors a year. What was IWPS now manage promotion of, and access to, the site and have, therefore, renamed themselves the Bugsworth Basin Heritage Trust.
The Waterways Archive is very grateful for Bugsworth Basin Heritage Trust's generous contribution towards the refurbishment of our research facilities in 2015.




