St Ann's Well, Buxton
St Ann's Well is a thermal spring in the centre of Buxton in the Peak District of Derbyshire, to which well the town owes its origin and prosperity. During the Roman period a town developed around the well, known as Aquae Arnemetiae ('Waters of Arnemetia') after a local goddess.[1] In the Middle Ages the well was reputed a 'holy well', which drew visitors, and in the early Modern period it was celebrated as one of the Seven Wonders of the Peak, a healing well.
In the late 18th century, the Dukes of Devonshire developed Buxton as a spa town, and in the next century the railway brought a Victorian resurgence as visitors came to take the water, which had reputed healing properties.
The waters
The waters from St Ann's Well are warmed within the bowels of the Earth, rising at a constant temperature of 28 °C. The spring waters are piped to St Ann's Well (which before the Reformaton was a shrine to St Anne), opposite the Crescent near the town centre.[2]
The water is filtered through the hills and takes on their properties.
Spa town boom
The Dukes of Devonshire have been closely involved with Buxton since 1780, when the 5th Duke used the profits from his copper mines to develop the town as a spa in the style of Bath. Their ancestor Bess of Hardwick had taken one of her four husbands, the Earl of Shrewsbury, to "take the waters" at Buxton shortly after he became the gaoler of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1569, and they took Mary there in 1573. She called Buxton "La Fontagne de Bogsby", and stayed at the site of the Old Hall Hotel.
The area features in the poetry of W. H. Auden and the novels of Jane Austen and Emily Brontë.
Erasmus Darwin, the famed physician, gave his medical recommendation of the waters of the waters at Buxton and of Matlock to Josiah Wedgwood I, and after the Wedgwood began frequent holidays to Buxton they recommended the area to their friends. The arrival of the railway in 1863 stimulated the town's growth: the population of 1,800 in 1861 had grown to over 6,000 by 1881.[3]
The well head itself seems small and overshadowed now by the grand buildings of the town; the Crescent which looks down upon the well, the Opera House, the grand houses and much more. It is this well however which made all the rest possible.
Outside links
- Location map: 53°15’31"N, 1°54’52"W
References
- ↑ About Buxton, History of Buxton
- ↑ National Heritage List 1001456: The Slopes, Buxton
- ↑ Railways of the Peak District, Blakemore & Mosley, 2003 ISBN 1-902827-09-0
| The Seven 'Wonders of the Peak' in Derbyshire |
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Chatsworth House • Devil's Arse • Ebbing and Flowing Well • Eldon Hole • Mam Tor • Poole's Cavern • St Ann's Well |