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Buxton - Peak District Towns and Villages

Buxton - An index to Peak District towns and villages including Buxton, Ashbourne, Bakewell, Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Leek, Matlock, Macclesfield and Wirksworth in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, England, UK.
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Buxton

Local Services:

B & B

Self Catering

Food and Drink

Local Geography:
Area Map

Nearby Villages

Local Attractions

Buxton lies just outside the National Park boundaries, but is the most important town for most of the western and central Peak. The town is situated in a natural bowl on the boundary between the gritstone and limestone areas and the River Wye has had to carve a gorge through the limestone to find an exit. At 300m above sea level the town is the highest town of its size in England and winters are often quite severe.

Inside the former Thermal Baths
Inside the former Thermal Baths
The site has been occupied continuously since at least Roman times, when a fort and settlement called Aquae Arnemetiae was established here, probably on the high ground between the market place and the bluff which overlooks the river by the police station. As well as its strategic situation, the Romans were attracted to the site by the warm springs which emerge near the River Wye with a constant temperature of 28 degrees Celsius. They built baths here and for the following centuries these springs have been a major source of importance and income for Buxton.

The spring at St Ann's well was probably a place of pilgrimage as early as the Middle Ages, but certainly by Tudor times it was fairly well established as a spa and in Elizabeth I's time it was visited for this purpose by The Earl of Leicester, Lord Burghley and no less than Mary Queen of Scots, who was being held captive by the Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Bess of Hardwick at nearby Chatsworth.

Buxton Crescent
Buxton Crescent
The great period of Buxton as a spa began when the 5th Duke of Devonshire started the construction of the Crescent in 1780. This magnificent building took ten years to build and was constructed over the river alongside the site of St Ann's well. It cost the huge sum of £38,000. From this time until the early 20th century a series of fine buildings were constructed in Buxton, starting with the Duke's stables in 1785 - this was converted to a hospital in the 1880s and a huge dome erected over the exercise area in the centre. In 1851-3 a new set of thermal baths were built, but in 1863 the railway arrived in Buxton to usher in its golden age.

Buxton Opera House
Buxton Opera House
The town boomed now that access was easy. Large hotels were built, (of which only The Palace now survives), the Opera House was constructed, and Pavilion Gardens. Fashionable town houses sprang up and the town expanded to almost its present limits. This period is best captured by Vera Brittan's 'Testament of Youth', which recounts her childhood experiences in Buxton.

At the same time, limestone quarrying became a major industry, now that the stone and lime products were easily transported by railway across the country. The large quarries which we now see around Buxton began at this time.

Pavilion Gardens
Pavilion Gardens
After the First World War, the spa industry went into a gradual decline and by the 1950s Buxton was a decaying backwater. A recovery began in the 1980s with the reopening of the Opera House and the establishment of the annual Opera Festival, but the fragility of this is illustrated by the fact that The Crescent currently lies empty. More recently still, the town has undergone a second revival, with the University of Derby moving into the former Devonshire Royal Hospital building, and and ambitious project begun to reopen the spa and The Crescent.

The town has a full range of shops, centred around a shopping arcade built over the culverted River Wye, just off Spring Gardens. There is a market every Tuesday and Saturday. The town's information centre is in the former mineral baths, next door to The Crescent. Telephone: 01298 25106, fax: 01298 73153.

Other things to see in Buxton include the Museum and Poole's Cavern and Grin Low country Park. Buxton has a well-dressing and carnival which starts on the second Sunday in July. The annual Festival is in mid-late July (information on 01298 70395) and this is followed by the annual Gilbert and Sullivan Festival. The Opera House box office: 01298 72190.

Useful Local Links

Buxton Festival
The annual opera, music and arts festival in Buxton.

Buxton Festival Fringe
A guide to fringe events at Buxton Festival.

Buxton Opera House
Buxton Opera House offer a full range of cultural events.

Buxton Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
The country's (if not the world's) leading festival of Gilbert and Sullivan music.

Buxton Weather Station
An enthusiast's Buxton Weather station.

Saint Peters Church, Fairfield
St Peter's is one of the Anglical churches in Buxton.

Let's Stay Peak District's guide to Buxton
The Let's Stay Peak District web site is one of the most comprehensive and most successful sites devoted to the Peak District.

Nearby Places of Interest

Buxton CrescentBuxton Crescent in the centre of Buxton, Derbyshire, is one of the finest Georgian buildings in England. The nearby Opera House is Frank Matcham's masterpiece and the Devonshire Hospital has the largest unsupported dome in Europe.
Buxton MuseumBuxton Museum and Art Gallery, Buxton, Derbyshire, is housed in the former Peak Hotel and has an excellent display on the history of the Peak District as well as an Art Gallery and the Boyd Dawkins collection.
Buxton's Pavilion GardensPavilion Gardens lie behind the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire. Built by Edward Milner in 1871, with the River Wye, the Octagon building, a bandstand and a railway.
Poole's Cavern and Grin Low Country ParkPoole's Cavern and Grin Low Country Park, Buxton, Derbyshire, on the edge of the Peak District. An interesting cavern, occupied from Roman times and before, with a country park which leads up to Solomon's Temple.
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