Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.[ In 1974, the municipal borough merged with other nearby boroughs, including Glossop, to form the local government district and borough of High Peak.
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The town population was 20,048
History
The origins of the name are unclear. It may derive from the Old English for Buck Stone or for Rocking Stone.
Stone Age beginnings
The first inhabitants of Buxton made homes at Lismore Fields some 6,000 years ago. This Stone Age settlement, a scheduled monument, was rediscovered in 1984, with remains of a Mesolithic timber roundhouse and Neolithic longhouses.
Roman settlement
The Roman Empire developed a settlement known as Aquae Arnemetiae ("Baths of the grove goddess").[ Coins found show the Romans were in Buxton throughout their occupation of Britain.]
Batham Gate ("road to the bath town") is a Roman roads from Templeborough Roman fort in South Yorkshire to Navio Roman Fort and on to Buxton.
Middle Ages
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.
Spa town boom
Built on the River Wye, and overlooked by Axe Edge Moor, Buxton became a spa town for its geothermal spring,
The spring waters are piped to St Ann's Well, a shrine since medieval times at the foot of The Slopes, opposite the Buxton Crescent and near the town centre.
The Dukes of Devonshire became involved in 1780, when 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.
The area features in the works of W. H. Auden, Jane Austen and Emily Brontë.[ Buxton's profile was boosted by a recommendation from Erasmus Darwin of the waters there and at Matlock, addressed to Josiah Wedgwood I. The Wedgwood family often visited Buxton and commended the area to their friends.]
20th century
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.
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.
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).
21st century
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Buxton received 150 refugees.
Governance
Buxton is part of the High Peak constituency for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Since 2024, the local Member of Parliament (MP) has been Jon Pearce from the Labour Party.
Since the 2025 Derbyshire County Council election, Buxton is represented by Conservative and Reform UK county councillors on Derbyshire County Council.
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.
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" . Its name recalls a local highwayman.
Climate
Buxton has an oceanic climate with short, mild summers and long, cool winters. At about above sea level,
A Met Office weather station has collected climate data for the town since 1867, with digitised data from 1959 available online.
Notable architecture
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.
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 – larger than the Pantheon at , St. Peter's Basilica at in Rome, and St Paul's Cathedral at . The record was surpassed only by space frame domes such as the Georgia Dome (). 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 1894 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;
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Many pubs and inns in Buxton are listed buildings reflecting the historic character of the town,
Culture
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.
Other festivals
The week-long Four Four Time music festival in February brings a variety of rock, pop, folk, blues, jazz and world music.
The Opera House offers a year-long programme of drama, concerts, comedy and other events.[ Whats On . Buxton Opera House, September 2010.] 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.[ "The Pavilion Arts Centre" . Pavilion Gardens website, September 2010.]
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery holds local artefacts, Geology and Archaeology samples (including the William Boyd Dawkins collection) and 19th and 20th-century paintings, with work by Frank Brangwyn, Marc Chagall, Chahine and their contemporaries. There are also displays by local and regional artists and other events.[ "Buxton Museum and Art Gallery" . Derbyshire County Council] The Pavilion Gardens hold regular arts, crafts, and jewellery fairs.[ "Fairs & Events" . Pavilion Gardens website.]
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.
Economy
Buxton's economy covers tourism, retail, quarrying, scientific research, light industry and mineral water bottling. The University of Derby is a noted employer.[ High Peak Profile , High Peak Borough Council, September 2010.]
The Buxton Mineral Water Company, owned by Nestlé, extracts and bottles mineral waters.[ "Buxton Water" , official website, March 2012.] The Buxton Advertiser appears weekly. Potters of Buxton is the town's oldest department store, founded in 1860.
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.[ Quarries visible as large white areas in satellite image, Google Maps, September 2010.] including the "Tunstead Superquarry", the largest producer of high-purity industrial limestone in Europe, employing 400.[ Superquarries: Tunstead , British Geological Survey website, September 2010.] The quarrying sector also provides jobs in limestone processing and distribution.[ "Buxton Lime" , Tarmac Limited, September 2010][ About HSL , HSL Website, September 2010.][ Health & Safety Laboratory , Northern Defence Industries Website.]
Education
The town hosts a University of Derby campus at the site of the former Devonshire Dome, as well as the Buxton & Leek College formed by the August 2012 merger of the university with Leek College.
Secondary schools include Buxton Community School, at the former College Road site of Buxton College, and St. Thomas More Catholic School.[ "St. Thomas More Catholic School" , accessed 4 February 2014.] Others include Buxton Junior School,[ "Buxton Junior School" , accessed 4 February 2014.] St Anne's Catholic Primary,[ "St. Anne's Catholic Primary School" , accessed 4 February 2014.] Harper Hill School,[ "Harpur Hill Primary School" , accessed 6 July 2017.] Buxton Infant School,[ "Buxton Infant School" , accessed 4 February 2014.] 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.[ "Schools and Colleges Near Buxton, Derbyshire" , accessed 4 February 2014.]
Sport and civic organisations
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.[ "About Us" , Buxton Raceway website.] 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.[ "Speedway in Derbyshire", You and Yesterday, accessed on 16 December 2007.]
Buxton's football club, Buxton F.C., plays at Silverlands and Buxton Cricket Club at the Park Road ground.[ Buxton Rugby Club , accessed 10 December 2011.] and Buxton Hockey Club.
Buxton has two 18-hole golf courses. Cavendish Golf Club ranked among the top 100 in England. It was designed by the renowned Alister MacKenzie and dates from 1925.
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.
Youth groups include the Kaleidoscope Youth Theatre at the Pavilion Arts Centre,[ "Kaleidoscope" , Buxton Opera House, accessed 12 May 2011.] Buxton Squadron Air Cadets,
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.[United Grand Lodge of England (2006) Directory of Lodges and Chapters London.]
Media
Regional TV news comes from Salford-based BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill and the local relay transmitters.
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Derby on 96.0FM and Greatest Hits Radio Derbyshire (High Peak) (formerly High Peak Radio) on 106.4FM.
The Buxton Advertiser is the town’s weekly local newspaper.
Transport
Railway
Buxton railway station has a generally half-hourly service to Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly along the Buxton line; trains are operated by Northern Trains. The journey to Manchester takes just under an hour.
History
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.
Buses
The town is served by bus routes that cross the Peak District National Park, including to the nearby towns of Whaley Bridge, Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills, Glossop and Ashbourne.
The High Peak Transpeak service offers an hourly link southwards to Taddington, Bakewell, Matlock, Belper and Derby. The Skyline 199 route operates every half hour during the day to Manchester Airport, along the A6 through New Mills and Stockport. The Peak Pathfinder 62 operates three times a day to Chapel-en-le-Frith, Edale, Hope and Castleton.
Other services link Buxton with Macclesfield, Leek, Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, Chesterfield and Meadowhall.
Air
The nearest airports are Manchester Airport (22 miles away), Liverpool John Lennon Airport (48 miles) and East Midlands Airport (52 miles).
Demography
In the 2011 census, Buxton's population was 98.3% white, 0.6% Asian, 0.2% black and 0.8% mixed/multiple.
Religion
2021 census of religion in Buxton| +
!
!Religion (Census 2021)
!Number of people (2021) |
| Christian | 52.1% | 9,794 |
| Muslim | 0.29% | 55 |
| Hindu | 0.09% | 16 |
| Sikh | 0.02% | 4 |
| Buddhist | 0.54% | 101 |
| Jewish | 0.1% | 19 |
| Other religion | 0.57% | 108 |
| No religion | 46.3% | 8,699 |
Famous Buxtonians
Public service
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Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury (1860–1921), styled Viscount Ingestre, ran in the early 1880s a daily Greyhound (fast) coach service for the 20 miles from Buxton Spa to his house at Alton Towers.
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Henry Guppy (1861–1948), Librarian of the John Rylands Library in Manchester from 1899 to 1948, lived in Buxton.
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Rear Admiral Leonard Warren Murray (1896–1971 in Buxton),
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John Pilkington Hudson (1910 in Buxton – 2007), horticultural scientist
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Herbert Eisner (1921–2011), British-German scientist
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Tony Marchington (1955 in Buxworth – 2011), biotechnology entrepreneur
Politics
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Hugh Molson, Baron Molson (1903–1991), Conservative
[ retrieved January 2018.] MP for High Peak 1939–1961
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Sir Spencer Le Marchant (1931–1986), Conservative
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Christopher Hawkins (born 1937), Conservative
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Tom Levitt (born 1954), Labour
[ TheyWorkForYou website, Tom Levitt MP retrieved January 2018.] MP High Peak 1997–2010
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Andrew Bingham (born 1962 in Buxton), Conservative
[ TheyWorkForYou website, profile retrieved January 2018.] MP for High Peak 2010–2017
The Arts
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Orlando Jewitt (1799–1869), architectural wood-engraver
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Vera Brittain (1893–1970), author of Testament of Youth and mother of Shirley Williams, lived in Buxton from 1905
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Robert Stevenson, (1905–1986), Buxton-born director of Disney films including Mary Poppins
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John Buxton Hilton (1921–1986), Buxton-born crime writer
[ Curtis Brown website, literary and talent agency retrieved January 2018.]
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Angela Flanders (1927–2016), Buxton-born perfumer
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Marjorie Lynette Sigley (1928–1997), Buxton-born artist, writer and actress, teacher, choreographer, theatre director and TV producer
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Elizabeth Spriggs, (1929–2008), Buxton-born character actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company
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Tim Brooke-Taylor (1940–2020), comic actor in The Goodies
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David Fallows (born 1945 in Buxton), Musicology
[ Research page, University of Manchester retrieved January 2018.] specializing in music of the Ars nova and the Renaissance
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Dave Lee Travis (born 1945 in Buxton), disc jockey, radio and TV presenter
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Lloyd Cole (born 1961 in Buxton), musician,
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Dan Rhodes (born 1972), writer,
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Bruno Langley (born 1983), actor, who played Adam Mitchell in Doctor Who and Todd Grimshaw in Coronation Street, was brought up in Buxton.
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Lucy Spraggan (born 1991), musician (folk, acoustic, hip hop pop), went to school in Buxton.
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Kate Butch, drag queen from series 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK, grew up in Buxton and attended Buxton Community School.
Sport
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William Shipton (1861 in Buxton – 1941 in Buxton), cricketer,
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Fred Smith (1887 in Buxton – 1957), footballer before WWI, mainly for Macclesfield
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Bobby Blood (1894 in Harpur Hill – 1988), footballer for Port Vale, West Brom and Stockport
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George Bailey (1906 in Buxton – 2000), steeplechaser,
[ George Bailey, Olympics at Sports-Reference.com retrieved January 2018.] competed at the 1932 Summer Olympics
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Frank Soo (1914 in Buxton – 1991), Stoke City F.C. footballer
[ The Wanderer–Just who was Frank Soo, The Football Pink retrieved January 2018.] (173 pro appearances) and first mixed-race professional to represent England
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John Tarrant (1932–1975), long-distance runner,
[ Amazing Story of the Ghost Runner, Derby Telegraph, 11 December 2011, Retrieved 14 September 2015.] "The Ghost Runner", lived in Buxton.
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Mick Andrews (born 1944 in Buxton), former international
[ MickAndrews.net website retrieved January 2018] motorcycle trials rider
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Les Bradd (born 1947 in Buxton), former footballer,
[ Player profile Football_england.com archive retrieved January 2018.] over 580 pro appearances, all-time leading goalscorer for Notts County
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Carl Mason (born 1953 in Buxton), professional golfer
[ "Carl Mason" , Player biographies, The PGA European Tour, accessed 1 July 2012]
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Mark Higgins (born 1958 in Buxton), former Everton, Bury and Stoke footballer, 265 pro appearances
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Lorraine Winstanley (born 1975)
[ Player profile on Lorraine Winstanley from Dartsdatabase retrieved January 2018.] and Dean Winstanley (born 1981),[ Player profile on Dean Winstanley from Dartsdatabase retrieved January 2018.] BDO darts players, live in Buxton.
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Ben Burgess (born 1981 in Buxton), Irish footballer,
[ SoccerBase Database retrieved January 2018.] played for Hull City F.C. and Blackpool F.C.
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Abbie Wood (born 1999 in Buxton) swam in two finals at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Literature
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."[ Faber publications. Retrieved 15 January 2021.]
Bill Bryson recounts his visit to Buxton in his 2015 book The Road to Little Dribbling.
Vera Brittain grew up in Buxton and in her memoir Testament of Youth, she is critical of the town's snobbery.
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".
The Victorian diarist Anne Lister recounts her visit to Buxton during August 1816 in her journal.
Buxton's St Ann's Well and Poole's Cavern were listed as two of the Seven Wonders of the Peak, in Thomas Hobbes's 17th-century book De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being the Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire, commonly called The Devil's Arse of Peak.
See also
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Listed buildings in Buxton
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Buxton Hospital
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Cavendish Hospital
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Lightwood Reservoir
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Macclesfield group power stations
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Pubs and inns in Buxton
Notes
Further reading
External links
