Ann Croft

Buxton Pavilion Gardens is a Victorian landscaped public park in the spa town of Buxton in Derbyshire. The River Wye flows through the gardens, which are a Grade II* listed public park of Special Historic Interest.

Grin Low is a hill overlooking Buxton in Derbyshire, in the Peak District. The summit is 434 metres (1,424 ft) above sea level.Grin Low was the main location for the early Buxton lime industry. It was an extensive area of limestone quarrying and was licensed for lime burning from 1662 by the 1st Duke Of Devonshire. Demand for lime grew dramatically during the Industrial Revolution. There are widespread remains of over 100 large 'pudding' lime kilns, built of earth and rock, which date from the 17th–19th centuries. The land is also covered in spoil heaps of waste material. Coal came from local collieries at Axe Edge and Goyts Moss. In 1820 the 6th Duke of Devonshire commissioned the 'Grin Plantation' (now the wooded Buxton Country Park) to shield the scarred lime-burning landscape from visitors to the spa town of Buxton. The Cromford and High Peak Railway opened in 1831 and passed by Grin Low. The railway allowed the lime to be transported to canals and generated expansion of quarrying in Buxton. In the 1850s lime production at Grin Low moved to a new large quarry on the south side of the hill (which was operated until its closure in 1952). In 1890 Grin Low produced 90,000 tonnes of lime. The quarry is now a caravan park and campsite. In the 1830s Solomon Mycock (proprietor of the Cheshire Cheese Inn) leased the land at the top of Grin Low. In 1840 he built Solomon's Temple (on behalf of the 6th Duke of Devonshire) at the summit, over an ancient burial mound, providing work to the unemployed of the town. By 1894 the structure of the folly had become dilapidated and the 8th Duke of Devonshire approved the replacement Grinlow Tower. The two-storey tower, 6 metres (20 ft) high, was designed by architects W. R. Bryden and George Garlick. The building was partly funded by public subscription. The new tower was opened by the Duke's cousin (and successor) Victor Cavendish in 1896. The tower was restored in 1987 with a partial contribution by Buxton residents. Grinlow Tower is a Grade II listed building. The structure is open with a spiral staircase inside to the viewing platform. There are panoramic views over Buxton to Mam Tor, Rushup Edge, Corbar Hill with Corbar Cross and in the opposite direction to Axe Edge. Temple Road in Buxton leads from the town to Grin Low. In 1894, local archaeologist Micah Salt excavated the burial barrow at the summit of Grin Low hill, before the tower was rebuilt. He discovered the remains of three burials and two cremations, as well as a decorated bowl, a flint tool and other artefacts.Buxton Country Park is operated by Buxton Civic Association and the park has 100 acres of mature woodland, with a network of woodland trails. The variety of trees include Beech, Ash, Elm, Sycamore, Willow, Birch, Hawthorn and Rowan. The woods are habitat to common birds (such as thrushes, tits and finches) but are also home to nuthatches, woodpeckers and tawny owls. The country park has had a 'Go Ape' tree-top adventure course with zip wires since 2007. Poole's Cavern is at the foot of the hill on the north side, on the edge of Buxton town. This natural limestone cavern is two million years old, formed by underground water dissolving the rock. It has several large chambers with numerous stalactites and stalagmites. Stone Age, Bronze Age and Roman artefacts have been discovered inside. The cavern is named after a medieval outlaw named Poole who used it as a hiding place. It has been a tourist attraction since the 1600s when it was named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Peak by Thomas Hobbes (in his book De Mirabilibus Pecci). Mary Queen of Scots is believed to have visited during her stay in Buxton in 1582. A branch of the River Wye flows through the cave system. The cavern is open to the public with tours along its 300m main passage. The temperature is a constant 7 °C.Poole's Cavern and Grin Low Wood are a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).The Dane Valley Way trail crosses the west side of the hill.

Burbage is a village in Derbyshire and was a parish until 1961, when it became part of the parish of Buxton. At the 2011 Census Burbage was a ward of the High Peak Borough Council. The population taken at this Census was 2,540.Burbage is well known for its brass band, the Burbage Band (Buxton). Burbage backs onto Grinlow Woods to the south and provides access to Solomon's Temple. Burbage Edge overlooks the settlement from the west.Burbage Tunnel (now blocked) is a remnant of the Cromford and High Peak Railway, which operated from 1831 to 1967, although the section near Burbage was abandoned in the 1890s in favour of a new alignment via Buxton. Christchurch at Burbage was designed by Henry Currey (architect for the Duke of Devonshire's estate) and was built in 1861. The Public Hall at Burbage was opened in July 1894 by Lady Cavendish and Lady Goring. It was built opposite Christchurch at the junction of Leek Road and Old Macclesfield Road. The hall held 400 people and was used for all the public events in Burbage for decades. The Burbage war memorial was erected beside it. Later it became Worth’s garage and car showroom. At the eastern end of the building were four shops, occupied amongst others by Thomas’s Grocers, Bonsall’s butchers and Edward’s newsagents. The building was demolished in 2007.Burbage Golf Club (now defunct) first appeared in 1899. It continued until the 1920s.The Duke pub (formerly the Duke of York Inn) on St John's Road is a free house. The Red Lion on Holmfield was built in 1842 but it is no longer a pub.Photographs of Burbage can be found at GENUKI.

Wye Head is an area in Derbyshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Burbage, on the outskirts of Buxton. It is so named because of a major rising of the River Wye, which carries much of the water from Poole's Cavern.

Poole's Cavern or Poole's Hole is a two-million-year-old natural limestone cave on the edge of Buxton in the Peak District, in the county of Derbyshire, England. Poole's Cavern forms part of the Wye system, and has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Lismore Fields is the site of a Stone Age settlement in the town of Buxton, Derbyshire, England. It was discovered close to the River Wye in 1984 by the Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust during a search for a Roman road. The site is a protected Scheduled Monument. The first inhabitants of Buxton made their home at Lismore Fields 6,000 years ago. Excavation of the prehistoric settlement discovered the remains (floors, post holes and pits) of a Mesolithic timber roundhouse and of two Neolithic longhouses. The layout of these buildings can be clearly seen from the positions of the post holes. Flint implements were also found. Lismore Fields could be the earliest cereal cultivation site discovered in Britain. Cereal stores were revealed by the archeologists. Pollen analysis of soil samples and charred plant remains uncovered evidence of emmer wheat, crab apples, hazelnuts and flax. Researchers believe that this ancient site marks the period when Stone Age people developed from hunter-gatherers to farmers. The "Lismore Pot" is a 5,500 year-old Grimston-ware bowl, pieced together from pottery fragments, and is one of the oldest pots ever found in Britain. It is on display in the Buxton Museum.

Cavendish Golf Club in Buxton, Derbyshire, opened in 1925 and was designed by Alister MacKenzie. The course is 5,721 yards (5,231 m) long with a par of 68. It is consistently voted as one of the top 100 golf courses in England. In 1923, Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire, commissioned Dr Alister MacKenzie to create and build an 18-hole golf course on moorland owned by the Devonshire estate in Buxton. The course was open to men and women from its opening in 1925. The Cavendish was one of MacKenzie's last UK course designs. He went on to design courses in Australasia, South America and the USA, including the world-famous Augusta National golf course, which opened in 1932 and hosts The Masters annual major golf championship. The Cavendish course was bought by the members from the 11th Duke of Devonshire in 1955. Although the course is under 6,000 yards long, the design of the sloping greens is acknowledged as its main challenge. The course record of 61 is 7 under par.In the 1990s, many native deciduous trees were planted around the course, funded by grants from the Forestry Commission.Buxton and High Peak Golf Club was the first golf course in Buxton, founded in 1886 on Fairfield Common. In 1899, the Ladies Golf Club's nine hole course was set out on Temple Meads (which was developed as a housing estate in the 1960s). After the First World War, Canadian troops based in Buxton created a toboggan run across what would later be the first three fairways of the Cavendish course. The toboggan run is still marked on the OS Explorer Map OL24. The Peak District Boundary Walk runs across the golf course.

Burbage Edge is a gritstone escarpment overlooking the Burbage district of Buxton in Derbyshire, in the Peak District. The hill's summit (marked by a trig pillar) is 500 metres (1,600 ft) above sea level.The boundary of the Peak District National Park runs along the ridge and across the summit. The ridge of Burbage Edge marks the western gritstone edge of the Derbyshire Dome, extending south as Axe Edge and to the north as Combs Moss. The ridge is the watershed between the River Goyt (Mersey river basin) and the River Wye (Trent river basin). To the west is Goyt's Moss moorland, the Cat and Fiddle Inn and the Upper Goyt Valley. Following the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, the area of the upper ridge and moorland were designated as "Open Access" land for the public.Coal was mined at Goyt's Moss colliery from the early 17th-century until 1893 when the coal deposits had been exhausted. The coal was initially extracted by surface mining, then in the 1700s using shallow shafts (with coal raised using hand winches) and later in the 1800s from deeper shafts using horse-drawn winding gins. Most of the coal produced was supplied to the Duke of Devonshire's limekilns at nearby Grin Low. The site of the colliery's remains is a protected Scheduled Monument.Burbage Edge is part of the Goyt Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Heather is the main plant but the heathland is habitat for a variety of native grasses, rushes, sedges and shrubs including bilberry, crowberry, cowberry and cross-leaved heath. Hare’s-tail cottongrass and sphagnum moss are common. The area is important for upland breeding birds including a large population of golden plover, as well as red grouse, curlew, lapwing, whinchat, snipe, twite, ring ouzel and merlin. The disused Cromford and High Peak Railway line (which connected the High Peak canal at Whaley Bridge with the River Derwent in Cromford since 1831) ran through a tunnel beneath Burbage Edge. This stretch of the railway line was closed in 1896. The Peak District Boundary Walk long distance footpath follows the disused railway line from Burbage Edge down to Errwood Reservoir.In October 1934 a De Havilland Moth plane crashed on Burbage Edge in heavy mist, while struggling with strong winds. The plane was en route from Broxbourne in Essex to Stanley Park at Blackpool. The ex-RAF pilot and passenger took half an hour to escape from the overturned wreck and walked to the Cat and Fiddle for help. In May 1943 an Airspeed Oxford RAF plane also crashed on Burbage Edge while on a solo circular night flight from Wheaton Aston. At dawn in low cloud, the plane hit the dry stone wall along the ridge of Burbage Edge. The pilot Sergeant John Wilson was killed by the impact.

Buxton Community School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The school was officially opened on 19 October 1993 achieving the consolidation of four former Buxton schools on the site of the previous Buxton College. The school is a specialist sports college. The headteacher is Sam Jones.In 2010 an Engineering Centre was added to the site and was officially opened by The Duke of Devonshire on the 13th October. A 3G artificial all-weather grass pitch was a further addition in 2012 and this opened by Howard Webb MBE. Previously a voluntary controlled school administered by Derbyshire County Council, in June 2023 Buxton Community School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the Embark Federation. Academies have more autonomy with the National Curriculum and receive direct funding from the UK Government.

Axe Edge Moor is the major moorland southwest of Buxton in the Peak District, England. It is mainly gritstone (Namurian shale and sandstone). Its highest point (551 metres (1,808 ft)) is at grid reference SK035706. This is slightly lower than Shining Tor (which is some 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the northwest, across the modest dip of the incipient Goyt Valley). The moor is the source of the River Dove, River Manifold, River Dane, River Wye and River Goyt. It boasted England's second-highest public house (the Cat and Fiddle Inn), which closed in 2015 before reopening as a distillery. The moor is shared between the counties of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, which meet on its southwestern flank at Three Shire Heads on the Dane. The Axe Edge itself is on the southeastern edge, near the source of the Dove.

Founded in 1675, Buxton College was a boys' Public School and, from 1923, a grammar school in Buxton, Derbyshire whose site has been expanded since 1990 to be used as the fully co-educational comprehensive Buxton Community School.

Solomon's Temple, also known as Grinlow Tower, is a Victorian folly on the summit of Grin Low hill, near the spa town of Buxton in the Derbyshire Peak District.On 23 February 1894, a meeting at Buxton Town Hall decided to rebuild a landmark tower that had been built by Solomon Mycock, of the Cheshire Cheese Hotel, in the early 19th century, and of which only a few stones remained. The Local Board vice-chairman had talked with the seventh Duke of Devonshire's agent and decided that the reconstruction was feasible if the townspeople would donate sufficient money. Sketches were submitted by architects W. R. Bryden and G. E. Garlick. By that May, the plans were confirmed by the Duke of Devonshire, and it was well known that the site was of prehistoric importance. In June 1894, the seventh Duke of Devonshire subscribed £25 towards building the folly. Buxton had already subscribed £50. The foundation stone was laid by Colonel Sidebottom, M.P., on 31 May 1896, witnessed by a large crowd, and the tower was opened by Victor Cavendish in September 1896. The tower was restored in 1988 by public subscription.The structure is a 20-foot-high (6.1 m), two-storey tower built on top of a Bronze Age barrow, sitting on top of a ridge at a height of 440 metres (1,440 ft) above sea level. From the open top of the tower there are good 360-degree views over the town and the surrounding countryside and parts of the Peak District. The tower does not contain anything other than the staircase to the top. It is a Grade II listed building.