77-752: Harpur Hill is a small village on the outskirts of Buxton , Derbyshire , England. It is in the Cote Heath ward of the High Peak Borough Council . It has a primary school, a park, a pub, a working men's club and a Methodist church. From 1938 to 1969, the RAF Maintenance Unit 28 was based at Harpur Hill and it included the RAF Mountain Rescue Team for the Peak District . RAF Harpur Hill
154-517: A University of Derby campus at the site of the former Devonshire Royal Hospital , as well as the Buxton & Leek College formed by the August 2012 merger of the university with Leek College. Secondary schools include Buxton Community School , at the former College Road site of Buxton College , and St. Thomas More Catholic School . Others include Buxton Junior School, St Anne's Catholic Primary,
231-420: A "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between c. 9,000 to 5,850 BP. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by
308-637: A Grade II* listed public park of Special Historic Interest. Milner's design was a development of Joseph Paxton 's landscape for the Serpentine Walks in the 1830s. The 122-room Palace Hotel , also designed by Currey and built in 1868, is a prominent feature of the Buxton skyline on the hill above the railway station. The town is overlooked by Grin Low hill, 1,441 feet (439 m) above sea level, and by Grinlow Tower (locally also called Solomon's Temple ),
385-629: A broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than the heavy-chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into the Neolithic . The more permanent settlements tend to be close to
462-537: A charity hospital for the "sick poor" by Henry Currey , architect to the 7th Duke of Devonshire's . Currey had previously worked on St Thomas' Hospital in London. It became known as the Devonshire Royal Hospital in 1934. Later phases of conversion after 1881 were by local architect Robert Rippon Duke , including his design for The Devonshire Dome as the world's largest unsupported dome , with
539-537: A concept in use. In the archaeology of the Americas , an Archaic or Meso-Indian period, following the Lithic stage , somewhat equates to the Mesolithic. The Saharan rock paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer in central Sahara , and at other locations depict vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa . Some of these paintings were executed by a hunting people who lived in a savanna region teeming with
616-641: A diameter of 144 feet (44 m) – larger than the Pantheon at 141 feet (43 m), St. Peter's Basilica at 138 feet (42 m) in Rome , and St Paul's Cathedral at 112 feet (34 m). The record was surpassed only by space frame domes such as the Georgia Dome (840 feet (260 m)). The building and its surrounding Victorian villas are now part of the University of Derby . Currey also designed
693-564: A few times. Buxton have been competitors in the Conference League . Buxton Raceway was due to hold a floodlit 2019 BriSCA Formula 2 World Final. Buxton's football club, Buxton F.C. , plays at Silverlands and Buxton Cricket Club at the Park Road ground. Other team clubs are Buxton Rugby Union and Buxton Hockey Club. There are also four Hope Valley League football clubs: Buxton Town, Peak Dale and Buxton Christians play at
770-488: A five-bay front with a Tuscan doorway. The Grade I listed Crescent was built in 1780–1784 for the 5th Duke of Devonshire, as part of his effort to turn Buxton into a fashionable spa town. Modelled on Bath's Royal Crescent , it was designed by architect John Carr , together with the neighbouring irregular octagon and colonnade of the Great Stables. These were completed in 1789, but in 1859 were largely converted to
847-406: A macrolithic technology was used in the Mesolithic. In the Neolithic, the microlithic technology was replaced by a macrolithic technology, with an increased use of polished stone tools such as stone axes. There is some evidence for the beginning of construction at sites with a ritual or astronomical significance, including Stonehenge , with a short row of large post holes aligned east–west, and
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#1732798067722924-534: A possible "lunar calendar" at Warren Field in Scotland, with pits of post holes of varying sizes, thought to reflect the lunar phases . Both are dated to before c. 9,000 BP (the 8th millennium BC). An ancient chewed gum made from the pitch of birch bark revealed that a woman enjoyed a meal of hazelnuts and duck about 5,700 years ago in southern Denmark. Mesolithic people influenced Europe's forests by bringing favored plants like hazel with them. As
1001-603: A result of ideological reluctance, different worldviews and an active rejection of the sedentary-farming lifestyle. In one sample from the Blätterhöhle in Hagen , it seems that the descendants of Mesolithic people maintained a foraging lifestyle for more than 2000 years after the arrival of farming societies in the area; such societies may be called " Subneolithic ". For hunter-gatherer communities, long-term close contact and integration in existing farming communities facilitated
1078-701: A spa town for its geothermal spring, which gushes at a steady 28 °C. The spring waters are piped to St Ann's Well , a shrine since medieval times at the foot of The Slopes , opposite the Crescent and near the town centre. 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. The Dukes of Devonshire became involved in 1780, when
1155-628: A three-week theatre event from the end of July through the first half of August, was held in Buxton from 1994 to 2013; it moved to Harrogate in 2014 but returned to Buxton in 2023. The Opera House offers a year-long programme of drama, concerts, comedy and other events. In September 2010, the Paxton Suite in the Pavilion Gardens reopened as the Pavilion Arts Centre after a £2.5 million reconstruction. Located behind
1232-528: A two-storey granite, crooked, crenelated folly built in 1834 by Solomon Mycock to provide work for local unemployed, and restored in 1996 after lengthy closure. In the other direction, on Corbar Hill , 1,433 feet (437 m) above sea level, is the tall wooden Corbar Cross. Originally given to the Catholic Church by the Duke of Devonshire in 1950 to mark Holy Year, it was replaced in the 1980s. In 2010, during
1309-641: A visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK, it was cut down as a protest against a long history of child abuse at the Catholic St Williams School in Market Weighton , Yorkshire. The Buxton ecumenical group Churches Together brought in several benefactors to replace the cross with a smaller one in May 2011. Many pubs and inns in Buxton are listed buildings reflecting the historic character of
1386-734: Is a Natufian carving in calcite . A total of 33 antler frontlets have been discovered at Star Carr. These are red deer skulls modified to be worn by humans. Modified frontlets have also been discovered at Bedburg-Königshoven, Hohen Viecheln, Plau, and Berlin-Biesdorf. Weaving techniques were deployed to create shoes and baskets, the latter being of fine construction and decorated with dyes. Examples have been found in Cueva de los Murciélagos in Southern Spain that in 2023 were dated to 9,500 years ago. In North-Eastern Europe , Siberia , and certain southern European and North African sites,
1463-614: Is a noted employer. Surrounded by the Peak District National Park, it offers a range of cultural events; tourism is a major industry, with over a million visitors to Buxton each year. Buxton is the main centre for overnight accommodation in the Peak District, with over 64 per cent of the park's visitor bed space. The Buxton Mineral Water Company, owned by Nestlé , extracts and bottles mineral waters. The Buxton Advertiser appears weekly. Potters of Buxton
1540-526: Is a popular local bouldering venue with many small outcrops giving problems mainly in the lower grades. These are described in the 2003 guidebook High over Buxton: A Boulderer's Guide . Hoffman Quarry at Harpur Hill , sitting prominently above Buxton, is a local venue for sport climbing . Youth groups include the Kaleidoscope Youth Theatre at the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton Squadron Air Cadets , Derbyshire Army Cadet Force and
1617-574: Is a rare Mesolithic animal carving in soapstone from Finland . The rock art in the Urals appears to show similar changes after the Paleolithic, and the wooden Shigir Idol is a rare survival of what may well have been a very common material for sculpture. It is a plank of larch carved with geometric motifs, but topped with a human head. Now in fragments, it would apparently have been over 5 metres tall when made. The Ain Sakhri figurine from Palestine
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#17327980677221694-593: Is an opera and arts event held in July at the Opera House and other venues. It includes some literary events in the mornings, concerts and recitals in the afternoon, and operas, many rarely performed, in the evenings. The quality of the opera programme has improved in recent years, after decades when, according to critic Rupert Christiansen , the festival featured "work of such mediocre quality that I just longed for someone to put it out of its misery." Running alongside
1771-672: Is in the western part of the Peak District, between the Lower Carboniferous limestone of the White Peak to the east and the Upper Carboniferous shale , sandstone and gritstone of the Dark Peak to the west. The early settlement (of which only the parish church of St Anne , built in 1625, remains) was largely made of limestone, while the present buildings of locally quarried sandstone, mostly date from
1848-652: Is the Buxton Festival Fringe, known as a warm-up for the Edinburgh Fringe . The Buxton Fringe features drama, music, dance, comedy, poetry, art exhibitions and films around the town. In 2018, 181 entrants signed up and comedy and theatre categories were at their largest. The week-long Four Four Time music festival in February brings a variety of rock, pop, folk, blues, jazz and world music . The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival ,
1925-539: Is the highest market town in England. Buxton's elevation makes it cooler and wetter than surrounding towns, with a daytime temperature typically about 2 °C lower than Manchester. A Met Office weather station has collected climate data for the town since 1867, with digitised data from 1959 available online. In June 1975, the town suffered a freak snowstorm that stopped play during a cricket match. The many visitors to Buxton for its thermal waters, particularly in
2002-424: Is the town's oldest department store, founded in 1860. The Buxton lime industry has shaped the town's development and landscape since its 17th-century beginnings. Buxton Lime Firms (BLF) was formed by 13 quarry owners in 1891. BLF became part of Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1926 and Buxton was the headquarters for I.C.I. Lime Division until the 1970s. Several limestone quarries lie close, including
2079-607: The London Coliseum and the Hackney Empire . Opposite is an original Penfold octagonal post box. The opera house is attached to the Pavilion Gardens, Octagonal Hall (built in 1875) and the smaller Pavilion Arts Centre (previously The Hippodrome and the Playhouse Theatre. ). Buxton Pavilion Gardens , designed by Edward Milner , contain 93,000 m of gardens and ponds and were opened in 1871. These form
2156-638: The Neolithic Revolution . In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 BP ; in the Middle East (the Epipalaeolithic Near East ) roughly 20,000 to 10,000 BP . The term is less used of areas farther east, and not at all beyond Eurasia and North Africa . The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favour of
2233-667: The 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. Built on the River Wye , and overlooked by Axe Edge Moor , Buxton became
2310-749: The Sea Cadet Corps , in addition to units of the Scouts & Guide Association. Buxton has three Masonic Lodges and a Royal Arch Chapter, which meets at the Masonic Hall, George Street. Phoenix Lodge of Saint Ann No. 1235 was consecrated in 1865, Buxton Lodge No. 1688 in 1877, and High Peak Lodge No. 1952 in 1881. The Royal Arch Chapter is attached to Phoenix Lodge of Saint Ann, and bears the same name and number, it being consecrated in 1872. Regional TV news comes from Salford-based BBC North West and ITV Granada . Television signals are received from
2387-633: The University of Derby occupies historic premises. Buxton is twinned with Oignies in France and Bad Nauheim in Germany. The origins of the name are unclear. It may derive from the Old English for Buck Stone or for Rocking Stone . The town grew in importance in the late 18th century, when it was developed by the Dukes of Devonshire , with a resurgence a century later as Victorians were drawn to
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2464-717: The Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic . The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus . The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia . It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and the Middle East, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and
2541-537: The William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire used profits from his copper mines to develop it as a spa in the style of Bath . Their ancestor Bess of Hardwick had brought one of her four husbands, the 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. She called Buxton " La Fontagne de Bogsby ". She stayed at
2618-555: The Winter Hill and the local relay transmitters. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Derby on 96.0FM and Greatest Hits Radio Derbyshire (High Peak) (formerly High Peak Radio) on 106.4FM. The Buxton Advertiser is the town’s weekly local newspaper. Mesolithic The Mesolithic ( Greek : μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between
2695-406: The archaeology of China , and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as "Early Neolithic". In the archaeology of India , the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains
2772-466: The last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed
2849-519: The municipal borough merged with other nearby boroughs, including Glossop , to form the local government district and borough of High Peak. The town population was 22,115 at the 2011 Census. Sights include Poole's Cavern , a limestone cavern; St Ann's Well , fed by a geothermal spring bottled by Buxton Mineral Water Company; and many historic buildings, including John Carr's restored Buxton Crescent , Henry Currey 's Buxton Baths and Frank Matcham 's Buxton Opera House . The Devonshire Campus of
2926-408: The " Neolithic package" (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations such as sedentism, population size and use of plant foods are cited as evidence of the transition to agriculture. Other Mesolithic communities rejected the Neolithic package likely as
3003-452: The " Tunstead Superquarry ", the largest producer of high-purity industrial limestone in Europe, employing 400. The quarrying sector also provides jobs in limestone processing and distribution. Other industrial employers include the Health & Safety Laboratory , which engages in health and safety research and incident investigations and maintains over 350 staff locally. The town hosts
3080-423: The "Epipaleolithic", suggesting a final phase of the Paleolithic rather than an intermediate age in its own right inserted between the Paleolithic and Neolithic. By the time of Vere Gordon Childe 's work, The Dawn of Europe (1947), which affirms the Mesolithic, sufficient data had been collected to determine that a transitional period between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic was indeed a useful concept. However,
3157-599: The "Younger Stone Age". Compared to the preceding Upper Paleolithic and the following Neolithic, there is rather less surviving art from the Mesolithic. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin , which probably spreads across from the Upper Paleolithic, is a widespread phenomenon, much less well known than the cave-paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, with which it makes an interesting contrast. The sites are now mostly cliff faces in
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3234-427: The 18th and 19th centuries, led to several new buildings to provide hospitality facilities. The Old Hall Hotel is one of the town's oldest buildings. It was owned by George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury , who with his wife, Bess of Hardwick, acted as the "gaolers" of Mary, Queen of Scots, who came to Buxton several times to take the waters, her final visit being in 1584. The present building dates from 1670, and has
3311-497: The A53 Buxton to Leek road, is a motor sports circuit set up in 1974, hosting banger and stock car racing, as well as drifting events. It was home to the speedway team Buxton High Edge Hitmen in the mid-1990s before the team moved to a custom-built track to the north of the original one. The original track at High Edge Raceway was among the longest and trickiest in the UK. The new track is more conventional, and has been improved
3388-477: The Devonshire Hospital and Buxton Bath Charity, built in 1879 and accidentally lost for the latter part of the 20th century during construction work, before being found and restored in 1994. When the railways arrived in Buxton in 1863, Buxton railway station had been designed by Joseph Paxton , previously gardener and architect to William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. Paxton also contributed
3465-615: The Early Mesolithic, or Azilian , begins about 14,000 years ago, in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France . In other parts of Europe, the Mesolithic begins by 11,500 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene ), and it ends with the introduction of farming, depending on the region between c. 8,500 and 5,500 years ago. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as
3542-788: The Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries . A 2012 publication in the Science journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found in Xianrendong cave in China, dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at
3619-630: The Fairfield Centre and Blazing Rag at the Kents Bank Recreation Ground. Buxton has two 18-hole golf courses. Cavendish Golf Club ranked among the top 100 in England. It was designed by the renowned Alister MacKenzie and dates from 1925. At Fairfield is Buxton & High Peak Golf Club . Founded in 1887 on the site of Buxton Racecourse , it is the oldest in Derbyshire. The hillside round Solomon's Temple
3696-446: The First World War . Granville Military Hospital was set up at the Buxton Hydropathic Hotel, with the Palace Hotel annexed. The author Vera Brittain trained as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse at the Devonshire Hospital in 1915. The Royal Engineers based in Buxton used the Pavilion Gardens' lakes for training to build pontoon bridges. Prisoner of war camps at Ladmanlow and Peak Dale were established in 1917 to supply workers for
3773-459: The Grade II listed Buxton Baths , comprising the Natural Mineral Baths to the west of The Crescent and Buxton Thermal Baths to the east, which opened in 1854 on the site of the original Roman baths, together with the 1884 Pump Room opposite. The Thermal Baths, closed in 1963 and at risk of demolition, were restored and converted into a shopping arcade by conservation architects Derek Latham and Company. Architectural artist Brian Clarke contributed to
3850-514: The Neolithic Revolution, such as the Natufian culture . Other authors use "Mesolithic" as a generic term for hunter-gatherer cultures after the Last Glacial Maximum, whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not. In addition, terminology appears to differ between archaeological sub-disciplines, with "Mesolithic" being widely used in European archaeology, while "Epipalaeolithic" is more common in Near Eastern archaeology. The Balkan Mesolithic begins around 15,000 years ago. In Western Europe,
3927-412: The Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Yelshanka culture on the Volga in Russia 9,000 years ago, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of
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#17327980677224004-490: The New World, neither term is used (except provisionally in the Arctic). "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes also used alongside "Mesolithic" for the final end of the Upper Paleolithic immediately followed by the Mesolithic. As "Mesolithic" suggests an intermediate period, followed by the Neolithic, some authors prefer the term "Epipaleolithic" for hunter-gatherer cultures who are not succeeded by agricultural traditions, reserving "Mesolithic" for cultures who are clearly succeeded by
4081-574: The Opera House, it includes a 369-seat auditorium. The stage area can be converted into a separate 93-seat studio theatre. Buxton Museum and Art Gallery holds local artefacts, geological and archaeological samples (including the William Boyd Dawkins collection) and 19th and 20th-century paintings, with work by Brangwyn , Chagall , Chahine and their contemporaries. There are also displays by local and regional artists and other events. The Pavilion Gardens hold regular arts, crafts, antiques and jewellery fairs. Buxton's Well Dressing Festival in
4158-402: The Romans were in Buxton throughout their occupation of Britain. Batham Gate ("road to the bath town") is a Roman road from Templebrough Roman fort in South Yorkshire to Navio Roman Fort and on to Buxton. The name Buckestones was first recorded in the 12th century as part of the Peverel family's estate . From 1153 the town was within the Duchy of Lancaster's Crown estate, close to
4235-424: The adoption of a farming lifestyle. The integration of these hunter-gatherer in farming communities was made possible by their socially open character towards new members. In north-Eastern Europe, the hunting and fishing lifestyle continued into the Medieval period in regions less suited to agriculture, and in Scandinavia no Mesolithic period may be accepted, with the locally preferred "Older Stone Age" moving into
4312-460: The building housed the Buxton Micrarium Exhibition, an interactive display with 50 remote-controlled microscopes. The building was refurbished as part of the National Lottery -funded Buxton Crescent and Thermal Spa re-development. Beside it, added in 1940, is St Ann's Well . In October 2020 Ensana reopened the Crescent as a 5-star spa hotel, after a 17-year refurbishment. Nearby stands the imposing monument to Samuel Turner (1805–1878), treasurer of
4389-421: The coming of the Neolithic until some 5,500 BP in northern Europe. The type of stone toolkit remains one of the most diagnostic features: the Mesolithic used a microlithic technology – composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools ( microliths ), while the Paleolithic had utilized Modes I–IV. In some areas, however, such as Ireland, parts of Portugal, the Isle of Man and the Tyrrhenian Islands,
4466-400: The earlier 20th century, Buxton had a resurgence in the 1950s and 1970s. The Playhouse Theatre kept a repertory company and pop concerts were held at the Octagon (including the Beatles in 1963). 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. Although outside the National Park boundary, Buxton
4543-554: The end of the Last Glacial Period . The carbon 14 datation was established by carefully dating surrounding sediments. Many of the pottery fragments had scorch marks, suggesting that the pottery was used for cooking. These early pottery containers were made well before the invention of agriculture (dated to 10,000 to 8,000 BC), by mobile foragers who hunted and gathered their food during the Late Glacial Maximum. Epipalaeolithic Near East Caucasus Zagros While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in
4620-487: The greatest: Harper Hill School with excellent teachers, Buxton Infant School, John Duncan School, Fairfield Infant & Nursery, Burbage Primary, Dove Holes CE Primary, Fairfield Endowed Junior, Peak Dale Primary, Leek College, Old Sams Farm Independent School, Hollinsclough CE Primary, Flash CE Primary, Earl Sterndale CE Primary, Peak Forest CE Primary and Combs Infant School. Above the town are two small speedway stadiums. Buxton Raceway (formerly High Edge Raceway), off
4697-408: The hauliers was Lomas Distribution which was bought out by Christian Salvesen and was a major employer in the area; it later sold the site to French transport company Norbert Dentressangle . Many of the bunkers can still be seen in the surrounding hillside. The Health and Safety Executive Laboratory is not far from Harpur Hill. From 1916 to 1918 the site housed The Frith Artillery Range. A railway
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#17327980677224774-484: The late 18th century. At the south edge of the town, the River Wye has carved an extensive limestone cavern known as Poole's Cavern . More than 330 yards (300 metres) of its chambers are open to the public. It contains Derbyshire's largest stalactite and some unique "poached egg" stalagmites . Its name recalls a local highwayman. Buxton has an oceanic climate with short, mild summers and long, cool winters. At about 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level, Buxton
4851-410: The layout of the Park Road circular estate. He is perhaps known best for his design of the Crystal Palace in London. Buxton Town Hall , designed by William Pollard, was completed in 1889. Buxton Opera House, designed by Frank Matcham in 1903, is the highest opera-house site in the country. Matcham, a theatre architect, was responsible for several London theatres, including the London Palladium ,
4928-405: The local limestone quarries. 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 RAF Mountain Rescue Service . Prisoner of war camps for Italians and Germans were set up on Lismore Road, off Macclesfield Road and at Dove Holes. After a decline as a spa resort in
5005-579: The open air, and the subjects are now mostly human rather than animal, with large groups of small figures; there are 45 figures at Roca dels Moros . Clothing is shown, and scenes of dancing, fighting, hunting and food-gathering. The figures are much smaller than the animals of Paleolithic art, and depicted much more schematically, though often in energetic poses. A few small engraved pendants with suspension holes and simple engraved designs are known, some from northern Europe in amber , and one from Star Carr in Britain in shale . The Elk's Head of Huittinen
5082-403: The refurbishment; his scheme, designed in 1984 and completed in 1987, was for a landmark modern artwork, a barrel-vaulted modern stained glass ceiling to enclose the former baths — at the time the largest stained glass window in the British Isles — creating an atrial space for what became the Cavendish Arcade. Visitors could "take the waters" at The Pump Room until 1981. Between 1981 and 1995
5159-406: The reputed healing properties of its waters. 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. The Romans developed a settlement known as Aquae Arnemetiae ("Baths of the grove goddess"). Coins found show
5236-416: The rugby club's goal posts are the highest in the country. Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak , Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town , sited at some 1,000 feet (300 m) above sea level. It lies close to Cheshire to the west and Staffordshire to the south, on the edge of the Peak District National Park . In 1974,
5313-449: The sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; in contrast, grandiose burial mounds are a mark of the Neolithic. The terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865. The additional "Mesolithic" category was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866. Westropp's suggestion
5390-433: The site of the Old Hall Hotel , where Earl of Shrewsbury had built a lodging for visitors. 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 . The area features in the works of W. H. Auden , Jane Austen and Emily Brontë . Buxton's profile was boosted by a recommendation from Erasmus Darwin of
5467-485: The terms "Mesolithic" and "Epipalaeolithic" remain in competition, with varying conventions of usage. In the archaeology of Northern Europe, for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia, the term "Mesolithic" is almost always used. In the archaeology of other areas, the term "Epipaleolithic" may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each. In
5544-656: The town, although many buildings have been demolished. Lost buildings of Buxton include grand spa hotels, the Midland Railway station, the Picture House cinema and Cavendish Girls' Grammar School. Cultural events include the annual Buxton Festival , festivals and performances at the Buxton Opera House, and shows running at other venues alongside them. Buxton Museum and Art Gallery offers year-round exhibitions. Buxton Festival, founded in 1979,
5621-420: The waters there and at Matlock , addressed to Josiah Wedgwood I. The Wedgwood family often visited Buxton and commended the area to their friends. Two of Charles Darwin 's half-cousins, Edward Levett Darwin and Reginald Darwin, settled there. The arrival of the railway in 1863 stimulated growth: the population of 1,800 in 1861 exceeded 6,000 by 1881. Buxton held a base for British and Canadian troops in
5698-633: The week up to the second Saturday in July has been running in its current form since 1840, to mark the provision of fresh water to the high point of the town's marketplace. As well as the dressing of the wells, it includes a carnival procession and a funfair on the marketplace. Well dressing is an ancient custom unique to the Peak District and Derbyshire and thought to date back to Roman and Celtic times, when communities would dress wells to give thanks for supplies of fresh water. Buxton's economy covers tourism, retail, quarrying, scientific research, light industry and mineral water bottling. The University of Derby
5775-456: Was constructed with old London Underground Jubilee Line trains which were used to reconstruct the 7 July 2005 London bombings . A red flag is flown at the laboratory when an explosion is imminent. Also nearby is Far Hill Quarry , now flooded, where swimming is discouraged by the authorities as unsafe due to the high pH level of the water. Harpur Hill is the base of Harpur Club & Harpur Hill FC, and of Buxton Rugby Union Club. The tops of
5852-455: Was established as an underground munitions store. Tunnels were dug out to house munitions and ordnance. When the RAF left the tunnels were used as a mushroom farm. When the tunnels closed they were sold to a group of local businessmen and used as a cold store for cheese; a warehouse was built for dry and bonded wines and spirits. A number of local hauliers provided the transport for these goods. One of
5929-476: Was immediately controversial. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate: the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later. Edouard Piette claimed to have filled the gap with his naming of the Azilian Culture. Knut Stjerna offered an alternative in
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