From the 1950s until 2005 the stone conveyor from Middle Peak Quarry was visible from many parts of town. As it was dismantled in Spring 2005 local residents reflected on what it had meant to them. In this picture the conveyor was already party dismantled.

PAUL BODEN is an ex Wirksworth resident who was living in the USA when he wrote this memory of the Conveyor or Hopper as it was also called.

I remember crawling through the hopper; it was about 8 - 9 years ago. Their was myself and three others (who I wont mention, but they know who they are), it was around November time, so it was dark when we crawled through it.

I was really nervous because we had to climb up to the first floor of the hopper to get up to the conveyor, as the stairs to the ground had been cut off (and I am not that good of a climber) and the fact that we was trespassing, which kind of gave it an element off excitement, knowing we were in a place that we were not meant to be in!!! And also it was my first time.

I remember that we could just about see each other in the room where the hopper was; it felt like something out of the twilight zone!! Once we had ascended to the top of what stairs were there, we were at the entrance to the conveyor, which was pitch black!! We entered the conveyor one at a time, holding the back of the shirt of the person in front.

It was about 8-30 pm when we entered the conveyor, and around 10-15 pm when we eventually got out at the other end. I remember it being very creepy, especially as one of the group kept talking about a ghost that was in there, because someone had been killed in there, I do not know if that was true, but it made it have more of an edge to being in there!!

The reason it took so long for us to get across it was the fact that we could not see a thing!!! You could not see your own hand in front of you, that is how dark it was, so it was very slow moving, and every time we heard a noise it would make us freeze in our tracks!!!! Every once in a while we would come across a broken window, which let a tiny amount of light in, but only within a few feet of the window, it was scary in there!! But fun!!

After we got out , I got a ride home, to go for a drink with my dad down at the Black Swan ( when Heather still had it ), When I look back, I think that it was a great thing to have done, I was so scared !! Pitch black! Strange noises!! Creepy atmosphere!!! Being told it was haunted!!!! AND, being in a place we should not have been, on a cold November night!……it was fun!!!!!!!!!