Editing Buxton (section)

== History ==
The origins of the name are unclear. It may derive from the [[Old English]] for Buck Stone or for [[Rocking Stone]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Derbyshire/Buxton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714185605/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Derbyshire/Buxton |archive-date=14 July 2014 |title=Key to English Place Names |publisher=Institute for Name Studies, University of Nottingham |access-date=12 May 2011}}</ref> The town grew in importance in the late 18th century, when it was developed by the [[Duke of Devonshire|Dukes of Devonshire]], with a resurgence a century later as [[Victorian era|Victorians]] were drawn to the reputed healing properties of its waters.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robertson |first=William Henry |title=A Guide To The Use Of The Buxton Waters|year=1859 |publisher=HardPress |isbn=9781318591060}}</ref>

=== 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.lismorefields.com/ |title=Lismore Fields Buxton Spa History Ancient Settlement Civilisation |website=lismore-fields |language=en |access-date=12 February 2020}}</ref>

=== Roman settlement ===
The [[Roman Empire|Romans]] developed a settlement known as [[Aquae Arnemetiae]] ("Baths of the grove goddess").<ref name=bbc/> Coins found show the Romans were in Buxton throughout their occupation of Britain.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historyofbuxton.co.uk/about_buxton.htm |title=About Buxton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116104122/http://www.historyofbuxton.co.uk/about_buxton.htm |archive-date=16 January 2010 |website=History of Buxton |access-date=20 August 2024}}</ref>

[[Batham Gate]] ("road to the bath town") is a [[Roman roads|Roman road]] from [[Templeborough|Templebrough]] 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 [[Honour of Peverel|Peverel family's estate]]. From 1153 the town was within the Duchy of Lancaster's Crown estate, close to the [[Forest of High Peak|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.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Leach |first=John |title=The Book of Buxton |publisher=Baracuda Books Limited |year=1987 |isbn=0-86023-286-7 |pages=35–43, 124–125}}</ref>

=== Spa town boom ===
[[File:055383 st anns well.jpg|left|thumb|150px|People filling bottles with water at St Ann's Well]]
[[File:buxton wells.JPG|right|thumb|Buxton Wells, from a 1610 map]]
Built on the [[River Wye, Derbyshire|River Wye]], and overlooked by [[Axe Edge Moor]], Buxton became a spa town for its geothermal spring,<ref name=Dunn>{{cite news |first=Paul |last=Dunn |url=https://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/best_of_britain/article7098524.ece |title=Great British Weekend: Buxton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522094142/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/best_of_britain/article7098524.ece |archive-date=22 May 2010 |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=17 April 2010 |url-status=live |access-date=20 September 2011}}</ref> which gushes at a steady 28&nbsp;°C.

The spring waters are piped to [[St Ann's Well (Buxton)|St Ann's Well]], a shrine since medieval times at the foot of [[The Slopes, Buxton|The Slopes]], opposite the [[Buxton Crescent|Crescent]] and near the town centre.<ref>{{National Heritage List for England |num=1001456 |desc=The Slopes, Buxton |access-date=4 May 2012}}</ref> The well was called one of the [[Seven Wonders of the Peak]] by the philosopher [[Thomas Hobbes]] in his 1636 book ''De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being The Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk/objects/2-36/ |title=De Mirabilibus Pecci: Being the Wonders of the Peak in Darby-shire |website=www.wondersofthepeak.org.uk |access-date=29 April 2020}}</ref>''

The Dukes of Devonshire became involved in 1780, when the [[William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire]] used profits from his [[copper]] mines to develop it as a spa in the style of [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]]. Their ancestor [[Bess of Hardwick]] had brought one of her four husbands, the [[George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lovell |first1=Mary S. |title=Bess of Hardwick |date=2005 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=London |isbn=0-316-72482-3 |pages=238–239}}</ref> She called Buxton "''La Fontagne de Bogsby''". She stayed at the site of the [[Old Hall Hotel]], where Earl of Shrewsbury had built a lodging for visitors.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scott |first=Jade |title=Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots |date=2024 |publisher=Michael O'Mara Books |location=London |isbn=978-1-78929-646-4 |page=135}}</ref> According to John Jones of Derby, author of ''Buxtone's Bathes Benefyte'' (1572), the visitors to Shrewsbury's "goodly house" enjoyed a game of table bowls known as ''trou madame''.<ref>{{cite book |first=John Daniel |last=Leader |title=Mary Queen Of Scots In Captivity: A Narrative Of Events From January, 1569 To December, 1584 |location=Sheffield |publisher=Leader & Sons |date=1880 |pages=303, 305}}</ref> 

[[File:Buxton Spring Gardens, 1965.png|thumb|Buxton in 1965 with shoppers and tourists filling Spring Gardens]]
The area features in the works of [[W. H. Auden]], [[Jane Austen]] and [[Emily Brontë]].<ref name=Dunn/> Buxton's profile was boosted by a recommendation from [[Erasmus Darwin]] of the waters there and at [[Matlock, Derbyshire|Matlock]], addressed to [[Josiah Wedgwood]] I. The Wedgwood family often visited Buxton and commended the area to their friends.{{Citation needed|date=October 2008}} Two of [[Charles Darwin]]'s half-cousins, [[Edward Levett Darwin]] and Reginald Darwin, settled there.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Charles |last1=Darwin |first2=Frederick |last2=Burkhardt |first3=Sydney |last3=Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ao2I3-8PXBgC&dq=levett+darwin&pg=PA265 |title=The Correspondence of Charles Darwin |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |date=1985 |isbn=0-521-25587-2}}</ref> The [[Buxton railway station|arrival of the railway]] in 1863 stimulated growth: the population of 1,800 in 1861 exceeded 6,000 by 1881.<ref>{{cite book |title=Railways of the Peak District |first1=Michael |last1=Blakemore |first2=David |last2=Mosley |date=2003 |isbn=1-902827-09-0 |publisher=Atlantic Transport Publishers}}</ref>

=== 20th century ===
Buxton held a base for British and Canadian troops in [[World War I|the First World War]]. Granville Military Hospital was set up at the Buxton Hydropathic Hotel, with the [[Palace Hotel, Buxton|Palace Hotel]] annexed. The author [[Vera Brittain]] trained as a [[Voluntary Aid Detachment]] nurse at the [[Devonshire Royal Hospital|Devonshire Hospital]] in 1915. The [[Royal Engineers]] based in Buxton used the Pavilion Gardens' lakes for training to build pontoon bridges.<ref name=":2"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 December 2019 |title=Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital Buxton 1915–1919 |url=https://buxtonmuseumandartgallery.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/canadian-red-cross-special-hospital-buxton-1915-1919/ |access-date=9 November 2020 |website=Buxton Museum and Art Gallery |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC – World War One At Home, Buxton Pavilion Gardens, Derbyshire: Bridge Building Practice |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p022x6c4 |access-date=21 January 2020 |website=BBC |date=30 July 2014 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Prisoner of war camps at Ladmanlow and Peak Dale were established in 1917 to supply workers for the local limestone quarries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roberts |first=Alan & David |title=Breaking Stones – Two World War One Prisoner of War Camps |publisher=Roberts Publications |year=2020}}</ref>

[[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 [[Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service|RAF Mountain Rescue Service]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 June 2015 |title=R.A.F. Maintenance Unit 28 – Harpur Hill |url=https://buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk/raf-maintenance-unit-28/ |access-date=9 November 2020 |website=Buxton Civic Association |language=en-GB}}</ref> Prisoner of war camps for Italians and Germans were set up on Lismore Road, off Macclesfield Road and at Dove Holes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WW2 People's War – Buxton in Wartime – Memories of a War Baby (part 3). |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/64/a4361564.shtml |access-date=9 July 2022 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WW2 People's War – Buxton in the second World War (1939–45) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/69/a5535669.shtml |access-date=9 July 2022 |publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WW2 People's War – Memories of when the bombs passed over. |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a2334368.shtml |access-date=9 July 2022 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

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 theatre|repertory]] company and pop concerts were held at the Octagon (including [[the Beatles]] in 1963).<ref>{{Cite web |date=6 April 1963 |title=The Beatles Bible – Live: Pavilion Gardens Ballroom, Buxton |url=https://www.beatlesbible.com/1963/04/06/live-pavilion-gardens-ballroom-buxton/ |access-date=21 January 2020 |website=The Beatles Bible |language=en-GB}}</ref> The Opera House re-opened in 1979 with the launch of the Buxton Festival, and the town was being used as a base for exploring the Peak District.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Langham |first=Mike |title=Buxton: A Peoples' History |publisher=Carnegie Publishing Ltd |year=2001 |isbn=1859360866 |location=Lancaster |pages=217–219}}</ref>