Waterworks, Buxton, Derbyshire, October 2018

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HughieD

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1. The History
The history about this place is rather scant, but then again, hardly surprising as it’s a fairly small place in the grand scheme of things. Beautifully located in the Peak District in Derbyshire, just outside of Buxton, the pumping plant was built by The Buxton Council(?) Water Works (BCWW) in 1957 to service the now decommissioned Stanley Moor reservoir to the south-west. The two-storey building which has a yellow stone frontage and brick infill panels at the back has clearly been closed for some time.

Stanley Moor Reservoir was a small, rectangular, impounding structure, formed on three sides by earth embankments and founded partly on limestone and partly on millstone grits. The inside was lined with puddle clay with a protective layer of masonry pitching. The reservoir’s principal feeds were two nearby streams, to the west and to the north. The flow was intercepted and directed through aqueducts to the intake chute, by the operation of “leaping weir” sluices.

The reservoir had been built on a problematic geological fault-line. Its location where limestone and millstone grit met resulted in a high rate of leakage from the reservoir and despite the aforementioned clay lining. Despite investigations, the problem couldn’t be rectified. In initially the water level was reduced by ten feet, and in 1946 the dam was breached in favour of a low-level weir channel reducing the capacity from 450,000 to 275,000 cubic metres. It’s unclear when the dam was decommissioned but when it was the water works would have then been surplus to requirements.

2. The Explore
This place has cropped up a few times this year. It’s a bit off-the-beaten-track in a beautiful location but pretty easy access. Despite this it’s had its fair share of visits from several esteemed graff artists and the less-esteemed metal fairies have also paid this place a few visits too. Sadly, some idiots have smashed the place up a bit and lit small fires. Despite this it’s well worth a visit and an hour of so of your time.

3. The Pictures

Viewed from the main road, looking towards Stanley Reservoir:

44799146094_aed6a502c2_b.jpgimg9972 by HughieDW, on Flickr

We had really lovely light the morning we visited:

44610734415_305a9dd712_b.jpgimg9974 by HughieDW, on Flickr

30585259537_af4216a2c0_b.jpgimg0017 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Welcomed by a nice bit of Coloquix:

45473952742_0dea5fe88e_b.jpgimg9976 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Not sure of the artist who did this:

43707133840_946e994d70_b.jpgimg9977 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Or this:

45524269371_dc67d96633_b.jpgimg9978 by HughieDW, on Flickr

In we go:
44800939214_58aa503e86_b.jpgimg0015 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45529517932_f3c0d7da95_b.jpgBCWW 12 by HughieDW, on Flickr

44798689514_2ecf1cf378_b.jpgimg9987 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45580077321_c9f75436cc_b.jpgBCWW 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45529532502_4c0e8afa07_b.jpgBCWW 11 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Love this piece of art:

45529609982_0a6efdd4cb_b.jpgBCWW 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Roof shot:

45473612512_2d5f0d97de_b.jpgimg9985 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And on to the main hall:

44612607185_4a2b3f7340_b.jpgimg0013 by HughieDW, on Flickr
45473520342_bb78b16eea_b.jpgimg9990 by HughieDW, on Flickr

31651461928_15bc9cde8b_b.jpgimg9991 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45526479471_b8e9211928_b.jpgimg0003 by HughieDW, on Flickr

44612648625_d34e84d10b_b.jpgimg0007 by HughieDW, on Flickr

31707698188_a90acf40b5_b.jpgBCWW 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And more graff by this chap:

30582702507_0db1b7a069_b.jpgimg9992 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45523842741_c3882f346e_b.jpgimg9993 by HughieDW, on Flickr

45580047891_126ac12c4b_b.jpgBCWW 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And on to the room at the back of the works:

30582588127_aaba69dedf_b.jpgimg9994 by HughieDW, on Flickr

30582495437_9d4dacc375_b.jpgimg9995 by HughieDW, on Flickr

44798177274_48b9e9fd51_b.jpgimg9998 by HughieDW, on Flickr

43706534030_ab618b5318_b.jpgimg9996 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And another bit of Coloquix on the way out:

30638961117_e7ed0edef6_b.jpgBCWW 13 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Love that dial, and good to see the worms again, it maybe a small building but its got some nice old bits left behind and some great decay, very nice HD:encouragement:
 
Excellent!

Surprised to see some motors left in situ there - will probably be stolen soon..

Everything like that over this way is live. Interesting to see what's inside. (getting explore urges now!)
 

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