The origins of the name are unclear. It may derive from the Old English for Buck Stone or for Rocking Stone.[3] The town grew in importance in the late 18th century, when it was developed by the Dukes of Devonshire, with a resurgence a century later as Victorians were drawn to the reputed healing properties of its waters.[4]
The Romans developed a settlement known as Aquae Arnemetiae ("Baths of the grove goddess").[1] Coins found show the Romans were in Buxton throughout their occupation of Britain.[6]
The name Buckestones was first recorded in the 12th century as part of the Peverel family's estate. From 1153 the town was within the Duchy of Lancaster's Crown estate, close to the Royal Forest of the Peak on the Fairfield side of the River Wye. Monastic farms were set up in Fairfield in the 13th century and in the 14th; its royal ownership was reflected in the name of Kyngesbucstones.
By 1460, Buxton's spring had been pronounced a holy one dedicated to St Anne, who was canonised in 1382. A chapel had appeared there by 1498.[7]
Spa town boom
People filling bottles with water at St Ann's WellBuxton Wells, from a 1610 map
Built on the River Wye, and overlooked by Axe Edge Moor, Buxton became a spa town for its geothermal spring,[8] which gushes at a steady 28 °C.
The spring waters are piped to St Ann's Well, a shrine since medieval times at the foot of The Slopes, opposite the Crescent and near the town centre.[9] The well was called one of the Seven Wonders of the Peak by the philosopher Thomas Hobbes in his 1636 book De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being The Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire.[10]
The Dukes of Devonshire became involved in 1780, when the William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire used profits from his copper mines to develop it as a spa in the style of Bath. Their ancestor Bess of Hardwick had brought one of her four husbands, the Earl of Shrewsbury, to "take the waters" at Buxton in 1569, shortly after he became the gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots, and took Mary there in 1573.[11] She called Buxton "La Fontagne de Bogsby". She stayed at the site of the Old Hall Hotel, where Earl of Shrewsbury had built a lodging for visitors.[12] According to John Jones of Derby, author of Buxtone's Bathes Benefyte (1572), the visitors to Shrewsbury's "goodly house" enjoyed a game of table bowls known as trou madame.[13]
Buxton in 1965 with shoppers and tourists filling Spring Gardens
Buxton held a base for British and Canadian troops in the First World War. Granville Military Hospital was set up at the Buxton Hydropathic Hotel, with the Palace Hotel annexed. The author Vera Brittain trained as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at the Devonshire Hospital in 1915. The Royal Engineers based in Buxton used the Pavilion Gardens' lakes for training to build pontoon bridges.[7][16][17] Prisoner of war camps at Ladmanlow and Peak Dale were established in 1917 to supply workers for the local limestone quarries.[18]
RAF Harpur Hill became an underground bomb-storage facility during World War II and the country's largest munitions dump. It was also the base for the Peak District section of the RAF Mountain Rescue Service.[19] Prisoner of war camps for Italians and Germans were set up on Lismore Road, off Macclesfield Road and at Dove Holes.[20][21][22]
After a decline as a spa resort in the earlier 20th century, Buxton had a resurgence in the 1950s and 1970s. The Playhouse Theatre kept a repertory company and pop concerts were held at the Octagon (including the Beatles in 1963).[23] The Opera House re-opened in 1979 with the launch of the Buxton Festival, and the town was being used as a base for exploring the Peak District.[24]
Geography and geology
Although outside the National Park boundary, Buxton is in the western part of the Peak District, between the Lower Carboniferous limestone of the White Peak to the east and the Upper Carboniferous shale, sandstone and gritstone of the Dark Peak to the west.[25] The early settlement (of which only the parish church of St Anne, built in 1625, remains) was largely made of limestone,[citation needed] while the present buildings of locally quarried sandstone, mostly date from the late 18th century.[citation needed]
At the south edge of the town, the River Wye has carved an extensive limestone cavern known as Poole's Cavern. More than 330 yards (300 metres) of its chambers are open to the public. It contains Derbyshire's largest stalactite and some unique "poached egg" stalagmites. Its name recalls a local highwayman.[26]
Buxton has an oceanic climate with short, mild summers and long, cool winters. At about 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level,[27] Buxton is the highest market town in England.[nb 1] Buxton's elevation makes it cooler and wetter than surrounding towns, with a daytime temperature typically about 2 °C lower than Manchester.
A Met Office weather station has collected climate data for the town since 1867, with digitised data from 1959 available online.[28] In June 1975, the town suffered a freak snowstorm that stopped play during a cricket match.[29]
Climate data for Buxton, elevation: 299 m (981 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1874–present
The many visitors to Buxton for its thermal waters, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, led to several new buildings to provide hospitality facilities.
The Old Hall Hotel is one of the town's oldest buildings. It was owned by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, who with his wife, Bess of Hardwick, acted as the "gaolers" of Mary, Queen of Scots, who came to Buxton several times to take the waters, her final visit being in 1584.[33] The present building dates from 1670, and has a five-bay front with a Tuscan doorway.[34]
Buxton Crescent and St Ann's Well
The Grade I listed Crescent was built in 1780–1784 for the 5th Duke of Devonshire, as part of his effort to turn Buxton into a fashionable spa town. Modelled on Bath's Royal Crescent, it was designed by architect John Carr, together with the neighbouring irregular octagon and colonnade of the Great Stables. These were completed in 1789, but in 1859 were largely converted to a charity hospital for the "sick poor" by Henry Currey, architect to the 7th Duke of Devonshire's. Currey had previously worked on St Thomas' Hospital in London. It became known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital in 1934. Later phases of conversion after 1881 were by local architect Robert Rippon Duke, including his design for The Devonshire Dome as the world's largest unsupported dome, with a diameter of 144 feet (44 m) – larger than the Pantheon at 141 feet (43 m), St. Peter's Basilica at 138 feet (42 m) in Rome, and St Paul's Cathedral at 112 feet (34 m). The record was surpassed only by space frame domes such as the Georgia Dome (840 feet (260 m)). The building and its surrounding Victorian villas are now part of the University of Derby.
Currey also designed the Grade II listed Buxton Baths, comprising the Natural Mineral Baths to the west of The Crescent and Buxton Thermal Baths to the east, which opened in 1854 on the site of the original Roman baths, together with the 1884 Pump Room opposite. The Thermal Baths, closed in 1963 and at risk of demolition, were restored and converted into a shopping arcade by conservation architects Derek Latham and Company. Architectural artist Brian Clarke contributed to the refurbishment;[35][36] his scheme, designed in 1984 and completed in 1987, was for a landmark modern artwork,[37] a barrel-vaulted modern stained glass ceiling to enclose the former baths[38] — at the time the largest stained glass window in the British Isles — creating an atrial space for what became the Cavendish Arcade.[39][37][40] Visitors could "take the waters" at The Pump Room until 1981. Between 1981 and 1995 the building housed the Buxton Micrarium Exhibition, an interactive display with 50 remote-controlled microscopes.[41] The building was refurbished as part of the National Lottery-funded Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa re-development. Beside it, added in 1940, is St Ann's Well. In October 2020 Ensana reopened the Crescent as a 5-star spa hotel, after a 17-year refurbishment.[42]
Nearby stands the imposing monument to Samuel Turner (1805–1878), treasurer of the Devonshire Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity, built in 1879 and accidentally lost for the latter part of the 20th century during construction work, before being found and restored in 1994.[43]
When the railways arrived in Buxton in 1863, Buxton railway station had been designed by Joseph Paxton, previously gardener and architect to William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. Paxton also contributed the layout of the Park Road circular estate. He is perhaps known best for his design of the Crystal Palace in London. Buxton Town Hall, designed by William Pollard, was completed in 1889.[44]
Corbar Hill and the Dome
Other architecture
Buxton Opera House, designed by Frank Matcham in 1903, is the highest opera-house site in the country. Matcham, a theatre architect, was responsible for several London theatres, including the London Palladium, the London Coliseum and the Hackney Empire. Opposite is an original Penfold octagonal post box. The opera house is attached to the Pavilion Gardens, Octagonal Hall (built in 1875) and the smaller Pavilion Arts Centre (previously The Hippodrome and the Playhouse Theatre.[45]). Buxton Pavilion Gardens, designed by Edward Milner, contain 93,000 m2 of gardens and ponds and were opened in 1871. These form a Grade II* listed public park of Special Historic Interest. Milner's design was a development of Joseph Paxton's landscape for the Serpentine Walks in the 1830s.[46]
Palace Hotel
The 122-room Palace Hotel, also designed by Currey and built in 1868, is a prominent feature of the Buxton skyline on the hill above the railway station.[47]
The town is overlooked by Grin Low hill, 1,441 feet (439 m) above sea level, and by Grinlow Tower (locally also called Solomon's Temple), a two-storey granite, crooked, crenelated folly built in 1834 by Solomon Mycock to provide work for local unemployed, and restored in 1996 after lengthy closure. In the other direction, on Corbar Hill, 1,433 feet (437 m) above sea level, is the tall wooden Corbar Cross. Originally given to the Catholic Church by the Duke of Devonshire in 1950 to mark Holy Year, it was replaced in the 1980s. In 2010, during a visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK, it was cut down as a protest against a long history of child abuse at the Catholic St Williams School in Market Weighton, Yorkshire.[49] The Buxton ecumenical group Churches Together brought in several benefactors to replace the cross with a smaller one in May 2011.[48]
Many pubs and inns in Buxton are listed buildings reflecting the historic character of the town,[50] although many buildings have been demolished. Lost buildings of Buxton include grand spa hotels, the Midland Railway station, the Picture House cinema and Cavendish Girls' Grammar School.
Cultural events include the annual Buxton Festival, festivals and performances at the Buxton Opera House, and shows running at other venues alongside them. Buxton Museum and Art Gallery offers year-round exhibitions.
Buxton Festival
Buxton Festival, founded in 1979, is an opera and arts event held in July at the Opera House and other venues.[51] It includes some literary events in the mornings, concerts and recitals in the afternoon, and operas, many rarely performed, in the evenings.[52] The quality of the opera programme has improved in recent years, after decades when, according to critic Rupert Christiansen, the festival featured "work of such mediocre quality that I just longed for someone to put it out of its misery."[53][54] Running alongside is the Buxton Festival Fringe, known as a warm-up for the Edinburgh Fringe. The Buxton Fringe features drama, music, dance, comedy, poetry, art exhibitions and films around the town.[55] In 2018, 181 entrants signed up and comedy and theatre categories were at their largest.[56]
Other festivals
The week-long Four Four Time music festival in February brings a variety of rock, pop, folk, blues, jazz and world music.[57] The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, a three-week theatre event from the end of July through the first half of August, was held in Buxton from 1994 to 2013; it moved to Harrogate in 2014[58] but returned to Buxton in 2023.[59][60]
The Opera House offers a year-long programme of drama, concerts, comedy and other events.[61] In September 2010, the Paxton Suite in the Pavilion Gardens reopened as the Pavilion Arts Centre after a £2.5 million reconstruction. Located behind the Opera House, it includes a 369-seat auditorium. The stage area can be converted into a separate 93-seat studio theatre.[62][63]
Buxton's Well Dressing Festival in the week up to the second Saturday in July has been running in its current form since 1840, to mark the provision of fresh water to the high point of the town's marketplace. As well as the dressing of the wells, it includes a carnival procession and a funfair on the marketplace.[66]Well dressing is an ancient custom unique to the Peak District and Derbyshire and thought to date back to Roman and Celtic times, when communities would dress wells to give thanks for supplies of fresh water.
Economy
Buxton's economy covers tourism, retail, quarrying, scientific research, light industry and mineral water bottling. The University of Derby is a noted employer.[67] Surrounded by the Peak District National Park, it offers a range of cultural events; tourism is a major industry, with over a million visitors to Buxton each year. Buxton is the main centre for overnight accommodation in the Peak District, with over 64 per cent of the park's visitor bed space.[68]
The Buxton Mineral Water Company, owned by Nestlé, extracts and bottles mineral waters.[69] The Buxton Advertiser appears weekly. Potters of Buxton is the town's oldest department store, founded in 1860.[70]
Quarrying
The Buxton lime industry has shaped the town's development and landscape since its 17th-century beginnings. Buxton Lime Firms (BLF) was formed by 13 quarry owners in 1891. BLF became part of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1926 and Buxton was the headquarters for I.C.I. Lime Division until the 1970s.[71] Several limestonequarries lie close,[72] including the "Tunstead Superquarry", the largest producer of high-purity industrial limestone in Europe, employing 400.[73] The quarrying sector also provides jobs in limestone processing and distribution.[74][75] Other industrial employers include the Health & Safety Laboratory, which engages in health and safety research and incident investigations and maintains over 350 staff locally.[68][76][77]
Secondary schools include Buxton Community School, at the former College Road site of Buxton College, and St. Thomas More Catholic School.[78] Others include Buxton Junior School,[79] St Anne's Catholic Primary,[80] the greatest: Harper Hill School with excellent teachers,[81] Buxton Infant School,[82] John Duncan School, Fairfield Infant & Nursery, Burbage Primary, Dove Holes CE Primary, Fairfield Endowed Junior, Peak Dale Primary, Leek College, Old Sams Farm Independent School, Hollinsclough CE Primary, Flash CE Primary, Earl Sterndale CE Primary, Peak Forest CE Primary and Combs Infant School.[83]
Sport and civic organisations
Buxton Raceway
Above the town are two small speedway stadiums. Buxton Raceway (formerly High Edge Raceway), off the A53 Buxton to Leek road, is a motor sports circuit set up in 1974, hosting banger and stock car racing, as well as drifting events.[84] It was home to the speedway team Buxton High Edge Hitmen in the mid-1990s before the team moved to a custom-built track to the north of the original one. The original track at High Edge Raceway[85] was among the longest and trickiest in the UK. The new track is more conventional, and has been improved a few times. Buxton have been competitors in the Conference League.[86][87] Buxton Raceway was due to hold a floodlit 2019 BriSCA Formula 2 World Final.[88]
Buxton's football club, Buxton F.C., plays at Silverlands and Buxton Cricket Club at the Park Road ground.[89] Other team clubs are Buxton Rugby Union[90] and Buxton Hockey Club.[91] There are also four Hope Valley League football clubs: Buxton Town, Peak Dale and Buxton Christians play at the Fairfield Centre and Blazing Rag at the Kents Bank Recreation Ground.[citation needed]
The hillside round Solomon's Temple is a popular local bouldering venue with many small outcrops giving problems mainly in the lower grades. These are described in the 2003 guidebook High over Buxton: A Boulderer's Guide.[94] Hoffman Quarry at Harpur Hill, sitting prominently above Buxton, is a local venue for sport climbing.[95]
Buxton has three Masonic Lodges and a Royal Arch Chapter, which meets at the Masonic Hall, George Street. Phoenix Lodge of Saint Ann No. 1235 was consecrated in 1865, Buxton Lodge No. 1688 in 1877, and High Peak Lodge No. 1952 in 1881. The Royal Arch Chapter is attached to Phoenix Lodge of Saint Ann, and bears the same name and number, it being consecrated in 1872.[98]
Station exterior in 1965. The present station is on the left and the former Midland Railway station is in the centre of the picture
Buxton had three railway stations. Two were aligned to the LNWR: Buxton and Higher Buxton; the latter was next to Clifton Road and closed in 1951. The third was Buxton (Midland), situated next to the LNWR terminus. The Midland Railway station, closed on 6 March 1967, became the site for the Spring Gardens shopping centre. The trackbed of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway has, in part, been used as a walking and cycling path called the Monsal Trail.
Heritage
Peak Rail, a preserved railway group, has restored the section from Rowsley South to Matlock; it has long-term ambitions to reopen it through to Buxton.[103]
A series of four recent novels by Sarah Ward – In Bitter Chill (2015), A Deadly Thaw (2017), A Patient Fury (2018) and The Shrouded Path (2019) – feature the fictional town of Bampton, which the author states "is partly based on Buxton with its Georgian architecture, Bakewell, a well-heeled market town... and Cromford with its canal and fantastic industrial heritage."[132]
Buxton is mentioned in James Joyce's Ulysses at the beginning of chapter 10. Father Conmee, a Jesuit priest, encounters the wife of David Sheehy MP and in their exchange says that he "would go to Buxton, probably, for the waters".[135]
The Victorian diarist Anne Lister recounts her visit to Buxton during August 1816 in her journal.[136]
^Lovell, Mary S. (2005). Bess of Hardwick. London: Little, Brown. pp. 238–239. ISBN0-316-72482-3.
^Scott, Jade (2024). Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots. London: Michael O'Mara Books. p. 135. ISBN978-1-78929-646-4.
^Leader, John Daniel (1880). Mary Queen Of Scots In Captivity: A Narrative Of Events From January, 1569 To December, 1584. Sheffield: Leader & Sons. pp. 303, 305.
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