Hidden Streams – Buxton’s waters, their folklore and influence.

In his 84 page poem De Mirabilibus Pecci, (1636), the philosopher Thomas Hobbes described Seven Wonders of the High Peak rather unflatteringly as "Two fonts, two caves. One pallace, mount and pit." Water features in five of these wonders, two of which, St Anne’s Well and Poole’s Cavern, are in Buxton, at the time a small hamlet ignored by most maps and of little interest beyond its Roman well and nearby Hall. If the Severn Wonders provided first a pilgrimage route for young aristocrats and more recently a handy tourist itinerary for the ever-increasing travellers to the High Peak, Buxton’s sacred well and healing waters have been instrumental in both its establishment as a Spa Town and its growth and continuing survival as a tourist destination. This paper will explore Buxton’s celebrated well, springs and hidden streams and consider their important role in the development of the town. Using material from the author’s extensive archive of photographs and related ephemera we will travel underneath the Opera House and inside the unrestored Crescent and Mineral Baths before visiting the town’s wells and following the Dukes Drive to nearby Lover’s Leap at the mouth of the sublime Shirebrook Dell and mysterious Poole’s Cavern to explore the topographies, histories and folklore associated with Buxton’s Waters.