19 Unknown Facts About Buxton – Not Many People Know

1. Buxton’s Opera House opened in 1903 and was the town’s fourth known theatre. The first, a small thatched building at Spring Gardens, opened around 1784.

2. The actor John Kane died in 1799 and is buried in St Anne’s churchyard. Historic England records a story that he mistook the poisonous plant aconite for a kind of radish.

3. In 1840 the Duke of Devonshire commissioned the Eagle Parade Conduit, bringing clean water to Higher Buxton. Watford Reservoir was built later, in 1853. Read about Eagle Parade Conduit restoration.

4. Arbor Low, near Monyash, is a Neolithic henge with a circle of limestone slabs and a nearby burial mound, Gib Hill. It has sometimes been described as England’s centre, but that claim should not be treated as a geographical fact. Read about Arbor Low and Gib Hill.

5. Harpur Hill is home to the Health and Safety Executive’s Science and Research Centre, where scientists carry out safety research, testing and monitoring. Read about HSE’s science and research centre.

6. Bath chairmen brought wheeled chairs into the Pavilion Gardens under licence in the 19th century, enabling visitors who could not walk to be taken around the park.

7. Buxton’s River Wye has turned orange after heavy rain. The Environment Agency explained a 2018 incident as groundwater passing through old coal workings, picking up iron that formed iron oxide when exposed to air. Read why the River Wye turned orange.

8. Canadian doctor Frederick Banting served at Buxton’s Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital during the First World War. He later worked with Charles Best and colleagues on the discovery of insulin and its use in treating diabetes; Banting and John Macleod were awarded the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

9. At the end of Water Street is a Grade II-listed, hexagonal Penfold postbox. The Derbyshire Historic Environment Record dates it to 1866 and identifies it as the fifth and final Penfold type.

10. Lime burning on Grin Low is documented from the 17th century. Quarry workers made simple homes, called limehouses, by hollowing out hardened lime-ash heaps; census records show that some were still occupied in the mid-19th century. Read about Grin Low lime burning.

11. Silverlands, home of Buxton FC, is about 1,000 feet above sea level. It has been described as the highest ground in England’s top six football divisions, although there are higher pitches elsewhere. Read about Buxton FC’s Silverlands ground.

12. Fairfield was historically a separate parish. Fairfield Low is an ancient burial mound where excavations uncovered human remains, including those of a child. Read about Fairfield Low burial mound.

13. Dale Side in Higher Buxton was also known as “The Pies” — a name recorded in the Derbyshire Record Office’s local photographs.

14. Buxton’s old Market Hall was destroyed by fire in 1885. The present Town Hall was built on the site and opened in 1889.

15. Writer Vera Brittain grew up in Buxton after her family moved there in 1905. She later wrote Testament of Youth about her experiences during the First World War. Read about Vera Brittain and the First World War.

16. The street pattern of Bennett Street and Heath Park Road preserves traces of older field boundaries, according to the borough council’s conservation appraisal.

17. The Beatles played twice at the Pavilion Gardens in 1963: on 6 April and 19 October. The venue now known as the Octagon was then advertised as the Pavilion Ballroom. Read about the Beatles in Buxton.

18. Macclesfield band The Macc Lads sang about the town with a notorious little ditty called No Sheep Till Buxton. You can listen to No Sheep Till Buxton on YouTube.

19. The Oriental Tea Kiosk in Pavilion Gardens was designed by William Radford Bryden and built in 1899. It later became an amusement arcade and was demolished in 1977. Read about the Oriental Tea Kiosk.