The village of Buxton, whose bath was noted in the time of the Romans ; this is confirmed by the high road called the Roman gate, and by a wall, cemented with red Roman plaster, close by St. Ann’s well, and where, in the year 1781, was discovered the ruins of the ancient bath.

Buxton lies in a pleasant bottom surrounded with hills of a most rugged aspect, and 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 visitants.

The baths, which are six in number, and adjoin to each other, though in distinct apartments, are at a house called the Hall. The bath appropriated for the gentlemen is in a room about 30 feet long, and 15 feet wide, and of the same height. The bath itself is about 26 feet long, and 12 wide, and at a medium about four feet and a half in depth ; it is paved at the bottom with flag-stones, and at each corner are steps leading into it. On one side is a stratum of black lime-stone, 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 condition. The springs, which are said to throw up about 60 gallons of water every minute, are capable of replenishing the baths in two hours and fifty minutes.

The temperature of the water is in general from 811/4 to 813/4 of Fahrenheit. With respect to the quantity of this water proper to be taken, Dr. Denman, in his observations on Buxton waters, observes, that "in common two glasses, each of the size of the third part of a pint, are as much as ought to be drank before breakfast, at the distance of forty minutes between each. One or two glasses between breakfast and dinner, he deems enough, and for invalids, he thinks this is the best time for bathing.

Dr. Denman, in his "Observations upon Buxton Water," considers it as a more active remedy than is generally supposed. He dissuades the use of it in all inflammatory and feverish complaints; inwardly used, it is serviceable in bilious cholics, loss of appetite and coldness of the stomach, inward bleeding, dry asthmas, &c. Outwardly, it is extremely useful in rheumatic and scorbutic complaints, old strains, callous tumours, withered and contracted limbs, &c. Besides the hot water, on the other side of the Wye, and opposite the hall, is a chalybeate spring of a rough irony taste, which being mixed with the former, proves purgative.

The Hall, formerly the only place of accommodation and which is still much frequented, is a patch-work building partly erected 200 years ago : however, as it has many apartments, and is near the wells and pump room, it is a favourite residence with invalids.

The usual place for drinking the water is at St. Anne’s well, where a modern but elegant little building, in the antique style, has been erected for the accommodation of the visitants; here the water is conveyed from the original spring, through a gritstone channel, into a white marble bason. 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, situated on one side of this building.

The Crescent

The late Duke of Devonshire erected a magnificent range of buildings in the form of a Crescent. This great ornament of Buxton consists of three stories; the lowest, which is rustic, forms a beautiful colonnade, extending the whole length of the front.

The divisions between the windows above are formed by Ionic pilasters, and extend to an elegant balustrade which skirts the whole front, in the centre of which is the arms of the Cavendish family, neatly carved in stone, surmounted with a pair of natural stag’s antlers. At each end of the Crescent is an hotel, between which are several private lodging houses, the lower apartments of which form a series of shops. The whole of the front of this building is faced with fine free-stone, which was procured from a quarry about two miles distant.

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 120,000l. in the completion of the whole.

The number of annual visitors at Buxton are supposed to amount to more than 700. Mary queen of Scots, who was here some time, took her leave of it with the following verses of Julius Caesar upon Fletria, with a slight alteration :

"Buxton, whose fame thy milk-white waters tell, "Whom I perhaps no more shall see, farewell." Besides the hall and the hotels in the Crescent, there are several good inns and lodging houses, and a number of inferior boarding houses in different parts of the town. The charge for bathing at the public baths, is one shilling each time; private ones, two and three shillings. Dinner at the ordinary even at the dearest times has not been more than two shillings and sixpence, tea one shilling ; breakfast and supper one shilling and sixpence each. A single bedded room half a guinea per week ; a double bedded fourteen shillings ; and a sitting room, from twelve to sixteen shillings. The subscription to the ball and card room is one guinea; but if a family, the two first only pay a guinea each, the others half a guinea ; six shillings for a single night. The subscription to the news room is six shillings for the season ; and the different billiard rooms as in other places. The Buxton season commences about the end of May, and concludes in October. Three assemblies are held every week : Monday and Friday for an undress, and Wednesday for a dress ball. An elegant card room adjoining the ball room is open every evening, and a pack of good harriers are also kept by subscription. The chapel at Buxton being too small, prayers were read, during the season, at the assembly room till the elegant new church was erected near the town by the Duke of Devonshire. But the company at the Duke’s inns have an advantage, being permitted to bathe before nine o'clock in the morning; a privilege, not allowed to the other houses. At the bath granted to the poor in this town, they are not only exempt from all charge, but frequently partake of the charitable contributions made by the company ; as every new comer, who stays more than a day, observes the custom of giving a shilling for their use. Besides the purchase of necessary medicines from this fund, about fourteen indigent persons are supplied with a weekly allowance of six shillings for one month.

To these accommodations at Buxton, it may be added, that in the coffee room the London papers are received soon after eight o’clock in the morning, on the arrival of the Sheffield mail. An excellent billiard table is kept by Billings, opposite the Hall; and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, a small theatre is opened by a respectable number of players.

Mr. Moore’s shop in the Crescent, contains besides stationary, a library and news room. Bate’s, in the New Square, has an elegant assortment of jewelery and fancy ornaments ; and Cooper’s, up the Hall Bank, is much resorted to for petrifactions, ornaments, fossils and minerals : those persons who have a taste for botany and mineralogy, may find abundant gratification in the environs of this place. There is also a charming ride within the Circus 160 yards round. A colonnade surrounds this building, under which the grooms may be secured from the weather whilst dressing their horses.

Among the rides and walks round Buxton, we reckon Monsal Dale; to which a most delightful turnpike road has lately been formed in the direction of the Wye, a small river that rises near Buxton. The landscape presented by Monsal Dale is singularly beautiful, and may be viewed with great advantage from the road betwixt Ashford and Tideswell, which approaches nearest to it. The Lover's Leap is a vast craggy precipice; and a circular road that passes by it, contains a new drive, lately formed, passing in a north west direction between the Manchester and the Macclesfield road.

Over the top of Stain Cliffs opposite the Crescent, a fine rising lawn planted with trees, a pleasant walk has been made. The company at Buxton has increased so much of late years, that some have been obliged to seek lodgings in the neighbouring villages. On these cliffs there is a barrow of a different shape from any in the county.

Poole's Hole

About one mile to the south-west of Buxton is a large hill, called Coitmoss, from which lime-stone is dug and burnt for manure. Under this hill is the cavern, called Poole’s Hole, from an ancient tradition that an outlaw, named Poole, once made it his residence, though some suppose that Poole was an hermit, who chose this dismal cell for his place of abode. The entrance to this cavern, which is considered as one of the seven wonders of the Peak, is so low and narrow that the visitant is obliged to proceed with great caution, and in a stooping posture, for nearly 80 feet, when the passage widens to a considerable vacuity, "from whose roof (says Mr. Warner) depends a quantity of stalactite, produced by the droppings of water laden with calcareous matter. Part of this substance adheres to the roof, and forms gradually those pendant spiral masses called stalactites, or (locally) water-icicles ; another portion drops with the water to the ground, and attaching itself to the floor, is there deposited, and becomes the stalagmite, a lumpy mass of the same matter. One of the former, of immense size, called the Flitch of Bacon, occurs about the middle of the cavern, which here becomes very narrow; but, after a short space, spreads again to a greater width, and continues large and lofty, till we meet with another surprisingly large mass of stalactite, to which the name of Mary Queen of Scot’s Pillar is attached, from the tradition of that Queen having made a visit to the cavern, and advanced thus far into its recesses," during her residence at Buxton. Few people venture beyond this pillar, as it cannot be passed without great difficulty; neither does the remaining part of the cavern offer any objects sufficient to repay the fatigue of exploring it: for it is necessary to descend by very slippery and craggy steps, through a narrow passage, when an almost perpendicular ascent commences, which leads to the extremity of the fissure, through a narrow strait, called the Eye of St. Anthony’s Needle. Near the termination of the Cavern, which is about 290 feet from the Queen of Scot’s Pillar, is an aperture, through a projection of the rock, behind which a candle is generally placed by one of the guides, when any person has ventured to the extremity, and which, when seen from the bottom of the cavern, appears like a dim star. On returning the stranger is conducted by a different way from which he entered, where he passes several small currents of fine transparent water. The several hollows in this cavern go by the names of Poole’s Chamber, Cellar, &c. and the different masses of stalactite are distinguished by the names of the objects which they are fancied to resemble, Poole’s Saddle, his Turtle, and his Woolsack, the Lion, the Lady's Toilet, Pillion, and Curtain, and a variety of other appellations are bestowed by the guides, from a supposed likeness to the things themselves ; though these forms are continually varying from the depositions left by the water, which is constantly issuing from the roof, and the sides of the rock. Ten aged women, with lighted candles, act as guides, by permission of the Duke of Devonshire, to whom the ground belongs.

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BUXTON is a celebrated watering place, on the river Wye, and 3 miles from the source of that river. The old road from Derby to Manchester passes through the town, which is 12 miles west-north-west from Bakewell, 22 north-west from Matlock, 24 south-south-east from Manchester, 38 north-north-west from Derby, 26 south-west from Sheffield and 159 from London by road; in 1895 it was formed into a civil parish from the parish of Bakewell and is in the High Peak division of the county. High Peak hundred, union and county court district of Chapel-en-le-Frith, head of a petty sessional division, rural deanery of Buxton, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of South-well. The Midland railway and the London and North Western railway have stations here. The Midland is the direct route from London via Derby, from which town there is access to the north and the eastern districts; the London and North Western communicates via Stockport with Wales, Shropshire and the Potteries, Liverpool and Manchester and all parts of Lancashire, Ireland and the west of Scotland. The North Staffordshire Railway Co. also run trains from the Potteries into the London and North Western station. The High Peak railway (for mineral produce and goods) passes within 1 ½ miles of Buxton. The Buxton and High Peak Junction railway, an extension of the London and North Western from Buxton to Ashborne, was commenced in 1888, and is still (1899) in progress: the line is connected with the High Peak railway near Hurdlow and by a branch from Harpur Hill and extends to Parsley Hey, near Hartington; near the Buxton station the line crosses by an imposing stone viaduct of 15 arches, the principal thoroughfare of the town and the river Wye, a width of 83 feet 9 inches, and most of the remaining arches are each of 42 feet 6 inches span; the height from the ground is about 60 feet; another viaduct of 13 arches, each of 36 feet span and about 90 feet high, crosses the Duke’s Drive; the construction of this section has also necessitated the excavation of a tunnel 500 yards long and the erection of over 20 bridges. The Duke’s Drive, by Wye Dale, commands scenery of the most magnificent and wild description, while the neighbourhood is noted for its healthy situation, and abounds with natural curiosities. The footpath by the banks of the Wye to Miller’s Dale, to which the public are admitted on most days, affords a series of beautiful views of river scenery.

The town is situated in a deep valley, and would be completely environed with mountains and moorland but for the deep ravine parallel to and below the road leading to Bakewell, through which the river Wye flows in its course towards the Derwent: it is 1,025 feet above the level of the sea, and is situated on the north-west margin of the mountain limestone formation, largely composed of fossil shells, madrepores and other organic remains, and owing to the absorbent character of this formation, the considerable elevation of the place and the consequently light, dry and pure atmosphere, epidemic, endemic and contagious diseases are comparatively little known.

Buxton was governed by a Local Board under the “Buxton Local Board Act, 1873” (36 and 37 Vict. c.56), until the “Local Government Act, 1894” (56 and 57 Vict, c. 73) established an Urban District Council. The urban district comprises parts of Buxton, Fairfield, and Hartington Upper Quarter township, and is divided into north, south and east wards.

The place has been efficiently drained, at a cost of £8,000. Gas is supplied from works about a mile from the town, in Ashwood Dale, erected in 1875—6 at a cost of £24,000, and now the property of the Urban Council. An electric fighting station is now (1899) in course of erection, at an estimated cost of £25,000. The town is well supplied with very pure water from the Hogshaw and other reservoirs, also the property of the Urban District Council. The Council have also constructed a large reservoir for water storage, about two miles from the town, in a south-westerly direction, with a capacity of 16 million gallons, and including this the water storage is now upwards of 35 million gallons.

In April, 1885, works for treating the town sewage, originated by Dr. Thresh, a local scientist, were completed at Ashwood Dale by Mr. Hague, the town surveyor: the sewage is clarified and purified by precipitation with iron water and lime, the former being obtained from a disused coal mine, known as the “Old Level Colliery, ’’ under Axe Edge, and about 3 miles from the works: after passing through a series of 14 tanks capable of holding 500,000 gallons, the effluent is thence conducted over a weir along a serpentine course to the river Wye, into which it is discharged in a perfectly inodorous and pure condition. The total cost of the scheme was £5,850.

In September, 1886, works were opened, adjoining the sewage works, for the destruction by cremation of the whole of the town’s refuse. Four cells are now employed, two new ones having been added in 1896 at a cost of £500. The total cost of these works, building and approach road was £2,250.

Buxton consists of two parts, the modern town to the north and the old town to the south, the latter standing 70 feet higher than the former, with one wide main street and a spacious market place, in the centre of which are the remains of an ancient stone cross. The Crescent, erected a hundred years ago at a cost of £120,000, is ft handsome pile three storeys high, the basement storey containing an arcade, which is continued along three sides of the Square and Hot Baths, and forms a covered promenade: at the western end and nearly adjoining it is the Old Hall, now an hotel, in which Mary Queen of Scots occupied apartments when here in the custody of the Earl of Shrewsbury: in front of the western wing of the Crescent is St. Ann’s Well. The Palace Hotel, an elegant modern edifice of stone in the Italian style, was built by a company in 1868 at a cost of £60,000, and enlarged in 1887—9 by the addition of north and west wings and a large dining room at an additional outlay of £20,000.

The chief object of interest here is the spring of tepid water, issuing in abundance from fissures in the mountain limestone at the temperature of 82° Fahrenheit, and never varying at any season of the year: this mineral water, the permanent character of which has been proved by successive analyses extending over a period of 300 years, is charged with nitrogen gas in a preeminent degree, containing also calcareous matter; the amount of flow is 129 ½ gallons per minute, but probably a considerable quantity is lost through some connection with the river Wye, which runs near: this water, singularly clear and brilliant and faintly blue in colour, is soft and admirably adapted for making tea, culinary purposes and washing, and has a highly detersive and emollient effect upon the skin, partly due to its calcareous and alkaline qualities: it is used both for medicinal and bathing purposes; it is found to be especially useful in cases of rheumatism in all its forms, or of those nervous affections known as neuralgia, tic-doloreux and sciatica: it is likewise useful in cases of gout, and in many cases of local and general weakness. Here is also a chalybeate spring of much value for medicinal purposes, analysed by Sir Lyon Playfair, and found by him to contain 1.044 grains of proto-carbonate of iron to the imperial gallon.

The Public or Natural Baths, situated at the western end of the Crescent, and erected from the designs of Mr. Henry Currey, architect, of London, are approached under cover from the Crescent, the Hall and the Square, and form an extensive and most complete establishment, comprising swimming, plunge, private, douche, massage, spray, and other baths, luxuriously fitted up, and with every convenience for the most infirm of visitors. The larger baths are lined with porcelain-covered brick and floored with white marble, the waters rising through apertures in the pavement to a height of between 4 and 5 feet and flowing out in a similar way near the top, and there are separate arrangements for dressing. At the opposite end of the Crescent are the Hot or Private Baths, contained in an extensive structure, chiefly of glass and iron, and approached also by a covered way: the baths were re-erected and extended in the period 1851—6.

The Devonshire Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity, established in 1858, and occupying an elevated site close to the town and conveniently near the Baths, is supported by subscriptions, annual sermons and voluntary payments from the visitors, enabling poor patients to avail themselves of the benefit of the Buxton waters: each patient admitted receives board, lodging, baths and medicine gratuitously for three weeks; after that time a charge of 17s. 6d. per week if made as long as the patient may remain in the hospital, with the sanction of the medical attendant, but no patient is allowed to remain more than six weeks on the books of the institution without a special order, signed at least by two of the medical staff of the hospital. There are 300 separate beds. An out-patient is entitled to medical advice, medicine and baths. On an average the patients remain under treatment nearly 24 days; and cases of rheumatism, embracing every conceivable variety of this obstinate disease, are extensively relieved by the medical agency of the Buxton mineral waters. In 1879—81 the whole of the buildings taken for hospital purposes were entirely re-arranged, the interior circular area of half an acre roofed over, at a cost of £36,000, of which £24,000 was granted by the governors of the Cotton Districts Convalescent Fund, on the condition of their having a prior claim to the beds in the additional wards: in front of the hospital are extensive pleasure grounds, the gift of the late Duke of Devonshire K.G. and pleasantly diversified with walks and shrubberies. In recognition of the services of Dr. Robertson (chairman of the committee of management), a clock tower was erected over the principal entrance of the hospital in 1882, at a cost of £1,118 18s. 6d. to which the late Duke contributed the sum of £200, and also presented a clock with Cambridge chiming apparatus and four illuminated dials, at a cost of £500; the expense of lighting this clock during the hours of night has been undertaken by the Urban Council.

Several hydropathic establishments have been founded here.

A handbook to Buxton and the Peak of Derbyshire and a succinct guide to the use of the waters was published by the late William Henry Robertson M.D. chairman of and consulting physician to the Devonshire Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity: the season commences in May and ends in October, during which period the number of visiters said to be in the place at one time is between 8,000 and 10,000.

The parish church of St. John the Baptist was built in 1811, and is an edifice in the Classic style, consisting of chancel and nave, with recesses on the north and south, a very fine but heavy portico over the eastern entrance, and a large cupola at the west end containing one bell: the east end of the chancel is decorated with mosaics; the east window is stained, and there are finely executed choir stalls and a noble pulpit of marble and alabaster, erected by subscription in 1867 to the memory of the late Right Rev. John George Trevor Spencer D.D. sometime bishop of Madras, and formerly incumbent of this parish, who died 16 July, 1866: the reredos is also of marble: the baptistery and font, erected in 1866, are memorials to Dr. Dickson and his son, and there is a stained window, placed in 1886, to the memory of the Rev. R. P. Hull, a former vicar: the church will hold about 1,000 persons. The register dates from the year 1719. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value, £430, with 33 acres of glebe, and residence, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire K.G. and held since 1893 by the Rev. Charles Codrington Nation M.A. of St. John’s College, Oxford, and surrogate.

The old parish church of St. Anne, in Higher Buxton, erected in 1625, is a small and low rectangular building, consisting of nave, north porch and a western bell cote containing one bell: the font is of an unusual oblong shape: there is a monumental tablet, dated 1788, to William Wallace, and a carved oak reading desk of the 17th century; the church was restored in 1885. The Rev. John Thwaites Mumford M.A. of Wadham College, Oxford, has been curate in charge since 1897.

The church of St. James the Great, in Higher Buxton and serving as a chapel of ease to the parish church, is a structure of lime ripping and ashlar stone in the Early Decorated style, erected at a cost of about £5,000, and consecrated in 1871, and consists of apsidal chancel, clerestoried nave of three bays, aisles, transept, baptistery and south porch; the pulpit is of marble and stone, with a carved figure of St. James, and there is a memorial window to Mrs. Eddy, wife of a previous vicar: the church was enlarged in 1898 by the addition of another bay at the west end, and will now hold about 900 persons.

St. Mary’s Mission Church, in Higher Buxton, built in 1897, is a temporary wire-wove waterproof structure, erected at a cost of £800, and will hold 275 persons.

Trinity Episcopal Chapel in Hardwick Mount, erected in 1873, and enlarged in 1882—3, at a cost of £2,100, is a building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, porch, and incomplete tower: in 1894 the church was further enlarged by the erection of a south gallery and porch and part of the tower; a new organ has also been provided: there are 500 sittings. The living is a perpetual curacy, net yearly value £320, with residence, and held since 1881 by the Rev. Conrad Samuel Green.

St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Terrace road, erected in 1861, is a small building in the Early English style, to which in 1895, a chancel and side chapels were added, at a cost of £855, and a new altar was placed in one of the chapels in 1896. The church will seat 200 persons.

The Congregational church in Hardwick Mount is ft building in the Decorated Gothic style, with a tower and spire at the south-west angle, and has 600 sittings.

The Unitarian chapel in Hartington road, built in 1879, is in the Decorated style, and will seat 150 persons.

There are Wesleyan chapels in Higher Buxton and Devonshire park: the former, in the Late Early English style, with a pierced parapet, consists of nave and transept, and has about 500 sittings. Devonshire park chapel is a building in the Decorated style, and consists of chancel, nave and a tower with spire, and will seat 600.

The Primitive Methodist chapel in London road, is a building of Yorkshire ripping with ashlar dressings, erected in 1890, at a cost of £1,800, and will hold 500 persons.

The Cemetery, about one mile south-east from the town on the Ashbourne road, was laid out in 1897 by the Urban District Council; it is 12 acres in extent. The churchyards of St. John’s and St. Anne’s are now closed to burials, except in the case of those who already have vaults there: there are mortuary chapels for the Church of England and Nonconformists, and one-half of the cemetery has been consecrated.

The Town Hall, Public Free Library and public offices were erected in 1888—9 at the summit of St. Ann’s Cliff, on the site of the old Market Hall, destroyed by fire in 1885, and were opened by the present Duke of Devonshire K.G. then Marquess of Hartington, in June, 1889; they form a handsome building of stone in the Classic style, from designs by Mr. William Pollard, architect, of Manchester, and were built at a total cost of nearly £12,000; the north front of the building contains on the first floor a board room, committee rooms, town clerk’s and surveyor’s offices; on the ground floor, accountant’s, collector’s, gas manager’s and inspector’s offices; and in the basement, caretaker’s rooms, apparatus for cooking and a workshop for the gas department: the east and south fronts comprise on the ground floor an arcade let off as shops, the public free library, at present containing 3,000 volumes, the reading room, art class, and masonic rooms, with the necessary ante and cloak rooms; on the first floor (over the arcade, free library &c.) is a large assembly room, with gallery, capable of seating 1,000 persons; at each end are cloak and retiring rooms; the assembly room is also used by the county and justices’ courts and the local board; the tower over the south front was erected by public subscription, and the clock it contains was presented by the executive committee of the Lord Frederick Cavendish Memorial Fund; petty sessions are held fortnightly and the county court sits every alternate month either here or at Chapel-en-le-Frith, or New Mills.

The old Court House, a plain stone building, situate in George street, contains, in addition to the Devonshire Estate Offices, one large room, in which religious services and public meetings are held.

The mineral productions of the Peak (consisting chiefly of marbles and spars) are manufactured into various ornamental and useful articles, and largely sold.

The Liberal Club has premises in the Old Town Hall, and numbers 150 members; F. Cowley Smith, sec.

To the north-west, standing on an eminence, locally in Fairfield and commanding views of the surrounding country, is Wye House Asylum, an institution for the care and treatment of the insane of the higher and middle classes of both sexes.

The late Local Board erected, on the hill above the gas works, a sanatorium or hospital, with, four wards so arranged as to isolate the various cases; the building further comprises nurses' and attendants’ rooms, three bed rooms, bath room and lavatory; and there are also ambulance stations, a mortuary and a disinfecting room, washhouse and ironing rooms, all fitted with the best modern appliances.

Gisborne’s charity of £5, left in 1818 by the Rev. Francis Gisborne, formerly rector of Staveley, is laid out in woollen or flannel and given to the poor; the interest derived from £1,000 bequeathed by the late Robert Broome esq. is in part applied to the Buxton & Burbage Sunday and day schools, one half being distributed among the poor of the said places.

In 1871 12 acres of land (given by the late Duke of Devonshire for ever, under a legal conveyance) were enclosed by the Buxton Improvement Company Limited (now the Buxton Gardens Company Limited), by whom the estate was laid out as ornamental gardens, and a pavilion of iron and glass erected from designs by Mr. Edward Milner, of Sydenham, about 400 feet long and 50 feet wide; with a terraced front, and grassy slopes and walks leading down to the Wye, which is crossed by two bridges; the projecting centre of the building, which forma an elongated cross, is partly occupied by a stage and orchestra and by reserved seats; an octangular addition, for concerts and balls, measuring over 100 feet in diameter and similarly constructed, was erected at the west end and opened to the public in August, 1876, and the internal space for promenade is now 600 feet in length, and capable of holding 2,000 people; in 1878 and again in 1884 the grounds were enlarged to cover a space of 24 acres, including a large lake; there is a reading and news room, well supplied, a skating rink and lawn tennis grounds; the river Wye takes a winding course through the gardens, falling occasionally over rockwork and forming artificial cascades; the band plays twice daily in the pavilion or gardens throughout the year, the latter containing a kiosk for outdoor performances; a very successful open Lawn Tennis Tournament is held every summer; in 1889 a large room for general and dramatic entertainments was erected on the north side of the pavilion buildings, and in 1898 a refreshment kiosk: the auditorium portion will hold 850 persons, and there is a large stage for dramatic purposes.

In 1890 “The Serpentine,” a piece of land adjoining the gardens, was presented to the town by the late Duke of Devonshire K.G. It is 3 ½ acres in extent, well wooded and intersected by the Wye, and affords a pleasant retreat: in 1895 six acres off the London road were presented by the present Duke for a recreation ground.

Fairs for cattle are held in the market ground at Higher Buxton on Monday before Old Candlemas day, April 1st, May 2nd, Monday before the second Wednesday in Sept. and the 28th of October; when April 1st, May 2nd, or October 28th falls on Sunday, the fair is held on the Saturday preceding.

The Duke of Devonshire K.G. is lord of the manor and principal landowner.

The geological formation of Buxton is characterised by millstone grit to the north and west of the town, and limestone to the south and east. The land is chiefly used for grazing purposes.

One mile from the town is a great natural cavern, in the carboniferous limestone, called “Poole’s Hole,” visited by Mary Queen of Scots during her sojourn at Buxton; it contains numerous very fine specimens of the stalagmite, stalactite and crystalline formations, and is now lighted with gas; many interesting relics, discovered in the cavern, are exhibited in a museum close at hand, and include British and Roman remains; near to it is Diamond Hill, so called from a species of quartz found there, and known by the name of Buxton diamond. Axe Edge, 3 miles south-west from Buxton, is 1,751 feet above the level of the sea, and is the source of four rivers which issue from it in opposite directions-the Dove and the Wye flowing into the Humber, and the Dane and Goyt into the Mersey; 2 miles further on is the “Oat and Fiddle,” a wayside public-house, much frequented by visitors on account of the extensive views to be obtained in the neighbourhood; wagonettes run to both these places from Buxton several times daily. At Coomb’s Moss, 3 miles north from Buxton, are the remains of ancient military works; the Marble Stone, a rock of about 280 feet long and 80 broad, rising about 3 feet above the surface, is about 3 miles on the road still called Bathamgate. Within short distances are Chee Tor (a mass of rocks rising to the height of 300 feet from the river Wye, which washes its base), Ashwood Dale with Lover’s Leap, Miller’s Dale, Raven’s Torr, Monsal Dale, Cressbrook and the Dale of Goyt.

The river Wye is strictly preserved, and affords excellent trout-fishing.

During the season daily excursions are made by four horse coaches, char-a-bancs and wagonettes to places of interest in the neighbourhood; a large number of bath chairs are on hire at ranks situated in several thoroughfares of the town.

The area of the Urban District is 1,275 acres; rateable value, £79,020; the population in 1891 was :-Buxton (part of), 4,473; Fairfield (part of), 1,751; and Butbage, 2,635; total, 7,540.

The area of the township is 1,823 acres; rateable value, £45,094. The population in 1891 was 4,658.

Petty sessions are held fortnightly, at 11 a.m. . on Saturdays, at the Town hall, & for indictable offences every Wednesday & Saturday. The following parishes are included in the petty sessional division: Buxton, Fairfield, Hartington Upper Quarter, Burbage, King Sterndale & Wormhill.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

St. John the Baptist Parish Church, Rev. Charles Codrington Nation M.A. vicar; Rev. Arthur Reginald Thorold Winckley M.A. Rev. Charles A. Brereton B.A. and Rev. John Thwaites Mumford M.A. curates; 8, 11, 3 & 6.30; 8 a.m. . Tue. & Sat.

St. Ann, Rev. John Thwaites Mumford M.A, curate-in-charge; 8 & 10.30 & 11.15 a.m. .; 6.30 p.m.; Mon. Wed. & Fri. 8 a.m. .; Thur. 10 a.m. . & 5 p.m.

St. James the Great Chapel of Ease, Higher Buxton; 8 & 11 a.m. . & 7 p.m.; Thur. 8 a.m.

St. Mary's Mission Church, Higher Buxton (temporary); 8 & 11 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal Chapel, Hardwick mount, Rev. Conrad S. Green; 11 & 6.30; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

St. Anne’s Catholic, Terrace road. Very Rev. Canon J. T. Hoeben, priest; 8 & 10.45 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; daily, 8 a.m. .; Fri. 8 p.m.

Catholic Apostolic, Darwin avenue, 10 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Congregational, Hardwick Mount, Rev. R. R. Rew; 10.30 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, London road. Rev. Frederick E. Heape; 10.30 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Unitarian, Hartington road, Rev. George Street; 11 a.m. . & 7 p.m.

Wesleyan, Higher Buxton, Rev. George Hobson; 10.30 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

Wesleyan Mission, Devonshire park, Rev. Henry Howard May; 10.30 a.m. . & 6.30 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Buxton College, founded in 1675, is an endowed school; the endowment being derived from lands in the neighbourhood; the buildings comprise school premises for 80 scholars & a master's house, erected in 1881, & a new wing containing gymnasium, laboratory, sanatorium & workshop, & are pleasantly situated on an eminence near the town, constituting part of the school estate of 31 acres, commanding extensive views of the surrounding country; the foundation has been re-established under a new scheme of the Charity Commissioners, as a middle-class grammar school, with six scholarships, each tenable for three years, two being awarded each year to boys educated in some public elementary school in Buxton; the inclusive fees are £12 a year, for day boys only; the management of the school is confided to a body of governors; Richard Archibald Little M.A., LL.D.headmaster.

A School Board of 5 members was formed 24 June, 1874; Abraham Brown, 6 Hardwick street, clerk to the board; George Conway, 1 College place, attendance officer.

Board, Silveriands, erected in 1876, at a cost of £6,500 for 260 boys, 230 girls & 250 infants; average attendance, 235 boys, 250 girls & 230 infants.

Catholic (mixed & infants’), Hardwick terrace, built in 1887, for 110 children; average attendance, 96; teachers, teachers, Nuns of the Presentation Order.