Driver Magazine - Issue 2 of 3 2025 - Magazine - Page 59
BUXTON CRESCENT
While on our Great Northern Road Trip, Craig, Nick, and I had the pleasure of staying in the Buxton Crescent Hotel.
Obviously, this is a stunning hotel and a fantastic place to stay, but for someone like me who enjoys the story of how and why
things came to be in the first place, the Crescent is an incredibly interesting location.
Many of us drink Buxton Water on a regular basis, but being able to learn the story of its alleged healing power and how it led
to something as impressive as the Crescent being built while standing on the site where it all happened was an experience I
really enjoyed.
Buxton Water
Buxton’s story has always had its foundations in its spring water. Long before we even knew of its existence, Roman settlers
were building around it. They named Buxton Aquae Arnemetiae. This made it one of only two places in Britain where the
Romans developed settlements based entirely around their thermal natural mineral water springs. The only other location
was Bath (Aquae Sulis).
The water that comes up through the ground in Buxton does so from a fault line that separates limestone from gritstone.
This has gifted the town with warm, mineral-rich springs that meant, even after the Romans moved on, people kept coming.
Even Mary Queen of Scots travelled to soak her joints in the healing waters of Buxton. She visited several times while under
house arrest by the Earl of Shrewsbury.
Duke Of Devonshire
In the late 1700s, the 5th Duke of Devonshire had a vision for Buxton. He didn’t just want it to be another place where people
came to experience the water. He wanted it to rival Bath as a northern Georgian spa town that could attract the fashionable
(and wealthy) crowd.
The Duke called on the services of John Carr, an architect from York. While he wasn’t the most obvious choice, seeing how
the Duke could pretty much afford to pay any of the best architects in the country, John Carr knew Buxton very well. He had
visited in 1775 to treat himself in the water for his rheumatism. He also had good connections with the Duke’s social circle. As
a result, John Carr played a huge role in the incredible story of Buxton Crescent.
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