Buxton

Contents & Site Map

About Pigots

BUXTON - Description from Pigot's 1835 Directory

BUXTON is a market-town and chapelry, in the parish of Bakewell, and hundred of High Peak; 160 miles from London, 24 S.E. from Manchester, the like distance W. of Chesterfield, 22 N.E. from Matlock, 20 N.E. from Wirksworth, 10 S.W. from Castleton, & 6 S. from Chapel-en-le-Frith. Antiquaries agree that this was a Roman station, although unable to ascertain it name - in later days it was called Bawkenstanes, supposed to be a corruption of Bathanstanes, signifying bath stones; and one of the Roman roads still retain the name of Bathorn-gate.

The town lies in a valley, surrounded with hills of a most rugged aspect. It was formerly an insignificant village; but the goodness of the roads, its central situation, the salubrity of the air and the medicinal effects of its springs, have contributed to its improvement; and it is now a place of fashionable resort, with accommodations suitable to the number and quality of its visitors. The baths, which are six in number, and adjoin each other (though it distinct apartments), are at an Inn called 'the Hall'. The bath appropriated to the gentlemen is in a room about 30 feet long by 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high; the bath itself is about 26 feet long by 12 feet wide and at a medium of about four feet and a half in depth; at one side is a stratum of black limestone, through which the two principal springs rise. In the bath for the ladies, and in that appropriated to the use of the poor, the water issues through the crevices of the floor; the other two baths are private, for the use of persons of distinction. The springs, which are said to throw up about 60 gallons of water every minute, are capable of replenishing the baths in two hours an fifty minutes; the temperature of the water is in general from 81¼ to 81¾ of Fahrenheit. A new bath, to the S.W. of Buxton, on the Macclesfield old road, is now opened under the management of Mr. William Moore: a pleasant road through the fields leads to it.

The 'Hall', formerly the principal place of accomodation, is still much frequented by the nobility and gentry resorting to Buxton; the centre part of the house was erected nearly 400 years ago, - the front is manifestly of more modern date; it has numerous apartments and conveniences for the accomodation of invalids, being very near the drinking well, close to the baths, and all under one roof. Soon after it was completed, Dr. Jones gave a celebrity to the waters, by a treatise on their sanative qualities; it was entitled, "Buxtones Bathes Benefyte, which cureth most grievous sickness, never before published; compiled by John Jones, Physition, at the King's Mede, near Derby, &c. 1572". The latest work on this subject, is that by Mr. T. J. Page, Surgeon to the Buxton Bath Charity, entitled, "Brief Observations on the Buxton Waters, with a few general directions for their use", published by Mr. Moore, bookseller, in the Crescent.

The usual place for drinking the water is at St. Ann's well, where an elegant modern little building, but in the antique style, has been erected for the accommodation of the visitants; here the water is conveyed from the original spring, through a grit-stone channel, into a white marble basin: this well is regarded as one of the seven wonders of the Peak, from the circumstance that both hot and cold water may be obtained within twelve inches of each other, from a double pump, situate on the side of this building.

The late Duke of Devonshire erected a magnificent range of buildings, in the form of a crescent; at one end of the Crescent is the 'Great Hotel', - the other end is the 'St. Ann's Hotel'; the whole of the front of this range is faced with fine free-stone, which was procured from a quarry about two miles distant. In the centre of the Crescent, a promenade and news-room, accessible to strangers for a trifling consideration, has been lately opened. At the back of the Crescent are the stables, an extensive pile, of an octagon form on the outside, but circular within the yard, in which is a riding-house, where the company take exercise on horseback when the weather renders shelter necessary. These buildings, with the Crescent, were erected by the Duke of Devonshire, who is said to have expended £120,000. in the completion of the whole.

Over St. Ann's Cliffs, opposite the Crescent, a fine rising lawn has been laid out with very great taste where the company promenade. The theatre is a small plain building, situate in the Hall bank. The government of the town is in a constable, but there are no courts held here. About two miles distant is a coal-mine; and there are several lead-mines in the neighboorhood, but none worked to any extent.

The church, which is dedicated to St. John, is situate at the west end of the Crescent; the living is a perpetual curacy, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire; the present incumbent is the Rev. George Trevor Spencer. The other places of worship ate chapels for the methodists, Calvinists and unitarians. Here is a free-school, to which all persons residing within the chapelry have the privilege of sending their children. A library has been established by Lady Gosford, which has been much increased by the voluntary contributions of visiters, for the use of poor invalids, and the inhabitants of Buxton and neigh neighbourhood. There is also a good circulating library, kept by Mr. Moore, in the Crescent. The 'Buxton Bath Charity', for the relief of the diseased poor, supported by the patronage and contributions of many distinguished individuals, aided also by the visiters to the baths, is a most excellent institution; from September, 1828, to September 1829, its beneficial influence was experienced by upwards of 800 individuals.

The rivers Wye, Dane, Dove and Goyte, have their sources in the mountain called Axe-edge. The Cromford High Peak railway passes about a mile hence, on to Whaley, where it meets the Peak Forest canal. 'Poole's Hole,' an immense cavern under Colt-moss Hill, about one mile S.W. of Buxton, is a great natural curiosity: it run in a horizontal direction for the length of 700 yards,- in some parts it is 180 feet wide, and 120 feet high; various chambers and pillars compose this vast natural excavation, which are denominated, according to the fancied resemblances they bear, as, Poole's Chamber Cellar, Saddle and Woolsack; the Lion, the Lady's Toilet, Pillion and Curtain and a variety of other appellations bestowed by the guides. Mary Queen of Scots, it is said, penetrated far into the cavern, from which circumstance one of the pillars takes its name; and it is recorded that she applied to Buxton, Caesar's lines upon Feltria, with some alteration, and thus translated,-

"Buxton, whose fame thy milk-warm waters tell,
Whom I, perhaps, no more shall see, farewell."

The natural scenery around Buxton is diversified, but principally hilly and barren, with other portions in a state of cultivation - presenting some pleasing views and romantic landscapes; and the country throughout this district may be said to be progressively improving. The market, which is held on Saturday, is pretty well supplied; there are five fairs, viz. the 6th of February, 1st of April, 8th May, the second Monday in September and 28th October, for horses, cattle, pigs, cloth, earthenware, and iron and wood wares. The number of inhabitants, in 1821, was 1,036, and in 1831, 1,211.

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835
Transcribed by Rosemary Lockie ©1999]

© Copyright Rosemary Lockie, GENUKI and Contributors 1996-2008, &c.
GENUKI is a registered trade mark of the charitable trust GENUKI, see About GENUKI as an Organisation

Are you lost in the Genuki hierarchy or arrived here from a Search Engine?
If so, use the up-arrow(s) at the top of the page to go up the hierarchy.

URL of this page: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/Buxton/History.html