Before Aquae Arnemetiae

Dr Ian Parker Heath of Enrichment through Archaeology will give an illustrated talk on the archaeology and pre-history of Buxton and its surroundings before the arrival of the Romans.

The illustrated talk will be held at Poole's Cavern Visitor Centre on 22nd October, starting at 7.30pm. Members and non-members welcome.

About the Speaker

IAN PARKER HEATH BA (SOTON) MSC PHD (MANC)
Ian graduated from the University of Southampton in 1999 with a degree in Archaeology. During this time he gained valuable experience of working on a number of excavations of Neolithic sites in the Southwest of Scotland directed by Julian Thomas, including the cursus monuments at Holm and Holywood.

Subsequent to his undergraduate degree, Ian undertook a PhD at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Dr Tim Insoll and funded by the AHRB. Following a long standing interest, the subject of this research was ‘The Representation of Islam in British Museums’. During this period, Ian also took part in buildings surveys in the West Bank as a team member of the Medieval & Ottoman Survey, a project supported by the British Academy. An edited version of his PhD was published by BAR Archaeopress in 2007.

Ian has also continued to work on Neolithic sites: he worked on the Dunragit Project (1999-2002), the excavation of a substantial palisaded and pit defined cursus monument near Stranraer; and between 2004 and 2009 he was a supervisor on the Stonehenge Riverside Project, working with Prof Julian Thomas on Durrington Walls, the Stonehenge Cursus and the long barrow, Amesbury G42. For the past 2 years he has been working with Prof Thomas on sites in Herefordshire.

Ian also has in interest in teaching, having taught a number of Archaeology courses at the University of Derby College Buxton. He has a wide-ranging knowledge of the archaeology of the Peak District having run guided tours in the area.

Illustrated Talk to Friends of Buxton Museum - 25th September

Members may be interested in a forthcoming illustrated talk to the Friends of Buxton Museum, at 7pm on Friday 25th September, at the Museum.

The theme of the talk is “Buxton Diamonds”, which were mentioned in our Autumn 2014 Newsletter (see photo above). The talk is being given by Roy Starkey who has been researching the history of these interesting crystals over the past five years and a paper describing his findings will be published in the Journal of the Russell Society at the end of this year.

The talk will review the fascinating history, geological context and mineralogy of the crystals, illustrated with surviving specimens from museum and private collections.

There is a small charge of £3 for non-members, and refreshments are served after the talk.

Buxton Civic Association hosted an International Speleothem Summer School at Poole’s Cavern Visitor Centre during the last week in August. Speleothems are mineral deposits formed from groundwater within caverns. Stalagmites, stalactites, and other forms may be annually banded or contain compounds that can be radiometrically dated.

Using Poole's cavern as a base, the conference was aimed at researchers studying stalagmite growth and atmospheric changes in caves around the world and how climate change patterns can be recorded and analysed. The conference hosts included Prof. John Gunn and Prof. Ian Fairchild who led seminars and field trips around the cavern and surrounding Limestone hills. Delegates included experts from as far afield as Russia and Spain as well as Birmingham University, Oxford and Royal Holloway.

Written by Netta Christie on August 25, 2015
Enjoy some of Buxton's best kept secrets for free …
Heritage Open Days are an opportunity for free access to some of our nations hidden gems. Many unique and undiscovered historical sites around the country will be throwing open their doors for free over this 21st Heritage Open Days weekend. With Buxton joining in again this year, it will be a great opportunity to see some rare sights of Buxton. The Old Hall Hotel will be offering in conjunction with Netta Christie, Director of Discover Buxton Tours some interesting insights into our heritage.

Heritage Open Days

August e-newsletter

Mark Cocker, environmentalist, campaigner and writer and old Buxtonian is giving a lecture at the WILD THING conference in Sheffield on 9th September 2015. The title of the talk is 'Birds and people'.

You can apply for tickets by clicking on the link below, but places are limited.

Details of talk and booking details

Viv Russell, Lime and Powders Director at Tarmac, visited Poole’s Cavern visitor centre, at the invitation of Buxton Civic Association, to inspect the path restoration work that the Association had carried out in Grinlow woods, with the generous help of stone and material supplied from Tarmac.

Thanking Viv Russell, and Tarmac for their help Mike said;

"The support and help that we have had from Tarmac has enabled us to improve the paths considerably and to carry the work out much more quickly. The work to the paths is vital as it has improved the accessibility to the woods as well as protecting key areas of the woods from erosion and damage."

Enabling as many people as possible to have access to the woods is a key objective of Buxton Civic Association whilst ensuring that the flora and fauna is protected and the site retains its SSSI status.
"It is great to be able to work in partnership with Tarmac and other local companies to help ensure that our wonderful woods can be of benefit to locals and visitors alike” added Mike.
Tarmac supplied stone for much of the restored pathways in two of the Association’s woods, Corbar and Grinlow. The stone was transported to site by Lomas Distribution.

Enabling as many people as possible to have access to the woods is a key objective of Buxton Civic Association whilst ensuring that the flora and fauna is protected and the site retains its SSSI status.

"It is great to be able to work in partnership with Tarmac and other local companies to help ensure that our wonderful woods can be of benefit to locals and visitors alike” added Mike.

Tarmac supplied stone for much of the restored pathways in two of the Association’s woods, Corbar and Grinlow. The stone was transported to site by Lomas Distribution.

You hear them first. The young make a plaintiff cry, calling and mewing, unmistakable and distinctive. I step out of the wood and turn back to look above it. Then they are there, the female clutching something in her talons executes a food pass, a small song bird by the looks of it. The young circle the trees before diving down to the nest and a meal. the humble sparrow hawk, the bird of prey that you are most likely to see in your garden, but I never cease to thrill at the sight of them on the wing.

Though under twenty acres the wood is full of interest. There is a badger sett dug into one of the spoil heaps. At first glance it looks deserted. But on closer inspection one of the holes looks like it has been recently dug. Perhaps a returning badger or possibly a fox.

During the summer a dry river bed gives away the geology. The stream flows off Stanley moor, in winter fed by springs but in the drier summer, disappears underground. It continues on through the wood to join the Wye at Lovers leap in Ashwood dale.

Lilly, my collie, is fascinated by all the different smells and is reluctant to move away from one patch that is obviously particularly pungent. I coax her away and she moves onto the next set of scents. The doggie equivalent of surfing the web, picking up messages from the other animals that have passed this way.

Like many of the woods that surround Buxton, the trees here were part of a plantation, planted to hide the scars from the lime burning. Over the years it has evolved a character of its own though. Less dense than Grin woods, it clings to the side of the narrow valley, dark and oppressive before giving way to open lighter glades. Everywhere there is dead wood, so vital and important to its health and well-being.

The sparrow hawks have fallen silent. Across the narrow valley I can hear the ducks from the riding school quacking. Lilly tugs at her lead to remind me that there are other things to get on with than simply standing still and watching the trees. We set off back down the path past the cottage of Content. I can let Lilly off the lead, and she races across the grass before turning round and in true collie fashion drops to the ground and waits, expectantly for the ball.

The Places and Spaces project is progressing. Further to the members meeting held in May, we are publishing (see link below) a complete list of the sites that were selected. We have also attached the list of selections sorted by themes.

The list is not final, and will be added to as and when further places and spaces are notified as being of relevance to the project.

A further meeting was held on 19th July and it was agreed that three of those themes would be further developed.

The three themes are;

1. Gateways to the town.
2. Vulnerable and at risk sites
3. Heritage trails

Three groups have been set up to progress these elements of the project. If anyone is interested in being involved please get in touch by email to our email address on the contact page on this website.

List of selections made at Places and Spaces Meeting 14th May 2015

In their excellent book, ‘The Coal mines of Buxton’ Alan Roberts and John Leach make the claim that the mining country around Buxton had some of the harshest and toughest working conditions in the country. Judging by the awful weather on Sunday 26th July, it was easy to believe it. It was a tribute to the dedication and hardiness of the 31 Buxton Civic Association members and their walking guides, Lyn Noble and Alan Roberts, that the walk took place at all.

The guided walk gave members and friends a fascinating glimpse of the significant coal mining industry that went on, on and under the moors above Buxton. Without expert guidance it would have been hard to see and to understand the extent of the workings in the landscape, as now only the ghost of traces of what went on in the hillls remain.

Starting at Cistern’s Clough, and making its way across the bleak Moorland and hill country above Buxton, the trail finishes at the Dukes Level, Ochre brook. The trail traces the origins of coal mining from the 16th century, right up to the closure of the last commercial mine in 1919. Now there is very little trace of the workings left, but with some expert guidance and a little imagination several features were revealed and it became clear that the landscape was littered with disused workings, mine shafts (now sealed), and traces of the raw material itself, albeit of a very poor quality.

The licenses for the mining were granted by the Chatsworth Estate. The coal that was extracted was mainly used for lime burning, and much of it would have found its way to Grin low. Improvements in transport links, such as the development of the canals and railways, and the increasing difficulty of extracting the coal from the workings due to flooding, meant that it became cheaper to use better quality coal from deeper mines elsewhere. The coal mines of Buxton ceased and fell into disrepair.

The plan is to repeat the walk again in the near future, and this will be the first of several heritage walks that Buxton Civic Association members are developing as a result of their ‘places and spaces’ project. If you are interested in finding out more about this and other projects that BCA are involved with, please have a look at the website on www.buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk or email us at communications@buxtoincivicassociation.org.uk

Some Photographs from the Archives

The photographs above are reproduced with kind permission from Frank Emerson.

The guided walk is based upon source material researched and provided by Alan Roberts and john Barratt.

Copies of Maps and Geological Section

Hand drawn map and cross section of the area covered by the walk - Lyn Noble