Two lines of railway, the London and North-Western and Midland, whose stations are situated adjoining each other to the east end of the town, and between Buxton and Fairfield, afford every facility of communication with all parts of Great Britain and Ireland. The station of the East to West Railway now in process of formation will be in Higher Buxton, and will doubtless prove of much convenience to residents in that neighbourhood.
Visitors to Buxton, of all classes, will find ample and suitable accommodation in the numerous hotels, hydros, boarding-houses, and private apartments.
The Buxton Gardens’ Company’s Pavilion,
Music Hall, and Theatre (where during the season the first artistes are engaged), lawn tennis, skating rink, golf, cricket, and football clubs, fishing, shooting, and hunting, provide varied amusements for all tastes.
Mail coaches and charabancs run daily (Sundays excepted) to either Bakewell, Haddon, Chatsworth, Matlock, Castleton, or Dove Dale, during the season. Private conveyances, riding and driving horses, are procurable by those wishing to visit the numerous places of interest in the neighbourhood or ride to hounds.
Buxton possesses some very handsome public and private buildings. The Crescent, perhaps one of the finest structures of its kind in Europe, has a frontage of 400ft. and a height of nearly 70ft., and is massive and bold in design. Above it is surmounted by an open battlement, which runs the whole of its length. In its centre the Devonshire coat of arms stands out in bold relief. Along the base of the building a wide open colonnade extends from one end to the other, and is a great convenience in going to and from the Baths and drinking fountain in wet weather, or
as a promenade. It was originally intended for one hotel, but is now divided into two. In front is an open semicircular space, extending to the foot of St. Ann’s Cliff, an extensive piece of ground, tastefully laid out in terraces and public walks, some of which lead from terrace to terrace to the public drinking fountain at the base of the slope, and others to the plateau above, upon which stands the Town Hall, a handsome and substantially-built structure, recently erected, containing public and private offices, magisterial and assembly rooms, museum, free library, reading-room, &c.
The Devonshire Hospital is a large octagonal building surmounted by a lofty dome, and is situated at the foot of Corbar Hill, being a conspicuous object from all parts of the town. It was originally built for stabling in connection with the Crescent Hotel. Some years since the committee of the Buxton Bath Charity, being desirous of providing better accommodation for those seeking its aid, succeeded, mainly through the exertions of the late Mr. Wilmot, agent to his Grace the Duke of Devonshire, in obtaining
the duke’s sanction to its conversion to its present use.
The structural alterations necessitated an outlay of between £30,000 and £40,000, towards which the committee of the Lancashire Cotton Fund contributed 24,000, in consideration of a first claim to the occupancy of 150 beds, the entire hospital accommodation being 300 beds.