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Derbyshire Towns & Parishes

BUXTON, Derbyshire

"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." [There is further information for Buxton]

[Description from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835]

Bibliography

• Lomas, Peter - Buxton Hydro (Spa Hotel). Ashridge Press/Country Books, 2007. ISBN 9-781901-214833.

• Bentley, Langham and Wells - Buxton and the High Peak. Tempus, 2006. ISBN 0-7524-3951-0.

• Roberts, Alan E & Leach, John R - The Coal Mines of Buxton. Scarthin Books, 1985. 96 pages.
  • ISBN 0 907758 10 X
  Quoting from its back cover: "THE COAL MINES OF BUXTON may seem like a fictional title, but it is fact. The book traces the rise of the coal industry in the neighbourhood of Buxton, examines its hey-day, and details its decline, quoting extensively from contemporary documents. If you still need proof of its existence, check out the numerous industrial remains which are also described in these pages."

  This is an evocative book which opens by contrasting the harsh realities of a coal miner's life in the late 18th century against the heady life of the upper class. Whilst the 5th Duke of Devonshire was developing Buxton as a spa town, and his visitors were paying their three shillings admission fee to the Card Room, a boy working in the coal mines would have to drive an engine horse around its circular track for six whole days to earn the same amount of money.

  Strictly speaking the mines were not in Buxton, but in the parish of Hartington Upper Quarter, about 2 miles away from Buxton. Nevertheless, this book is a real treasure trove for the family historian, containing many personal names, drawing extensively on the accounts of Thomas WYLD, of 1790 (WYLD was the mines' manager on behalf of their owner, the Duke of Devonshire). The several appendices contain more personal names, including lists of colliers and coal miners recorded on the 1841, 1851 and 1881 censuses.

• Bower, Alan - "The Water Cure". Derbyshire Heritage Series, 1985.
  Published by J H Hall & Sons Ltd, Siddals Road, Derby. 44 pages.
  • ISBN 0 946404 55 0.
  A small, but very useful booklet containing a collection of postcards, focussing on hydropathic treatment at Hydros predominantly in Buxton and Matlock, but also has illustrations of the Hydros at Darley Dale (now St Elphin's School), Ashover, Baslow and Chesterfield. There is a brief introduction, describing the growth of the 'Water Cure' from Roman times through the Middle Ages and into the 1780's when " social life of a spa at this time was more important than the cure" through to the heady days of John Smedley, and his followers to its eventual demise with the advent of the National Health Service in 1948.

  Quoting from its back cover: "This book is primarily a picture book about the Water Cure in Derbyshire. The picture postcard holds a wealth of information about our recent past and is an invaluable aid to any Historian. The postcards used to illustrate the Cure and Hydros date from 1904 to 1920 and aim to show what the life and treatment at a Hydro was like."

Cemeteries

• Roll of Honour - Derbyshire - War Memorial Selection lists the names on the Buxton War Memorial. Added 27 Aug 2005.

Church Records

• A CD containing a transcription of The Parish Registers of St James's & King Sterndale Churches (CMB 1851-1905 & 1878-1905) is available for purchase from 'Ancestral Archives'. Added 12 Aug 2005.

• A CD containing a transcription of The Parish Registers of St John's Church (CMB 1718-1910) is available for purchase from 'Ancestral Archives'. Added 22 Mar 2008.

• A CD containing a transcription of The Parish Registers of Non Conformist Chapels (CMB 1797-1905) is available for purchase from 'Ancestral Archives'. Added 12 Aug 2005.

Description and Travel

• An Aerial View of Buxton, provided by courtesy of Jonathan Webb, of www.webbaviation.co.uk.

• Buxton Online - has good descriptions of local towns and villages.

Directories

• A Description of Buxton and Directory for Buxton with the village of Fairfield and neighbourhood transcribed from Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory for Derbyshire, 1835 by Rosemary Lockie.

• Partial transcription of section of Directory of Sheffield and 20 miles round, 1862, for Buxton by Rosemary Lockie.

Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Buxton from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

History

• Transcription of section of Lysons' Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817, for Buxton by Barbarann Ayars.

Manors

• An account of Buxton Hall, taken from Old Halls, Manors and Families of Derbyshire, Volume I 1892 (The High Peak) by Joseph Tilley, transcribed/OCR'd by Rosemary Lockie. Added 3 Mar 2008.

Occupations

• Bygone Industries of the Peak: Coal Mining, article by Julie Bunting, reproduced from The Peak Advertiser. Focusses particularly on the so-called 'Buxton' Coal Mines.

Schools

• Buxton College, previously independent, became a County Grammar School in 1924. In the few years prior to that, pupils from Buxton may have attended the Lady Manners School, in Bakewell, following its reopening in 1896.

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