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Copyright of Alf Beard

St John the Baptist's Church,
St John's Road / Manchester Road,,
Buxton, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1811, and we understand it is still open.

Kelly's Directory of 1932 describes Buxton as a celebrated watering place, on the river Wye, and 3 miles from the source of that river. The old road from Derby to Manchester passes through the town, which is 12 miles west-north-west from Bakewell, 22 north-west from Matlock, 24 south-south-east from Manchester, 38 north-north-west from Derby, 26 south-west from Sheffield, and 159 from London by road. In 1895, it was formed into a civil parish from the parish of Bakewell. The London, Midland and Scottish railway had, at the time, three stations in the town, connecting with different parts of the country.

The parish church of St John the Baptist was built in 1811, and is "an edifice in the Classic style, consisting of chancel and nave, with recesses on the north and south, a very fine but heavy portico over the east end, and a large cupola at the west end containing one bell". The east end of the chancel is decorated with mosaics.

The return to the Religious Census of 1851 (HO 129/450/1/2/1) for St John Church, which at the time had 80 free, and 460 "other" sittings, recorded an average attendance of 400 in the morning, with 84 Sunday Scholars, and 300 in the afternoon. Both Bagshaw's Directory of 1846, and White's Directory of 1857, name the incumbent of Buxton as Rev. Robert Pennyman Hull Brown B.A., but he was, apparently unable (or unwilling) to complete the return himself, as the information was entered by the Registrar, Joseph Vernon.

The church has, nevertheless, honoured its incumbents. The pulpit, of marble and alabaster, was erected by subscription in 1867 to the memory of the Right Rev. John George Trevor Spencer, D.D. sometime Bishop of Madras, and former incumbent of this parish, who died in 1866. The reredos is also of marble. The baptistery and font, erected in 1866, are memorials to Dr. Dickson and his son, and there is a stained window, placed in 1886, to the memory of the Rev. R.P. Hull [Brown], a former vicar. There is also a fine window in memory of the men connected with the parish who fell in the Great War 1914-1918, their names recorded in panels on each side of the window. The church will hold 1,000 persons [evidently enlarged after 1851!]. The parish records date from 1719 [presumably including entries from the old Church of St Anne]. The living was in 1932 a vicarage, in the gift of the Duke of Devonshire, and had been held since 1911 by the Rev. Charles Elliott Scott-Moncrieff D.D. of Trinity College, Cambridge, hon. canon of Repton in Derby Cathedral, rural dean of Buxton, and surrogate.

There are further details of the interior of St John's, including a photograph, on the Parish of Buxton with Burbage and King Sterndale website.

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference SK0561773549. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• St John the Baptist's Church, Buxton shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Buxton shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Buxton, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• You may want to visit Parish of Buxton with Burbage and King Sterndale website for present-day information.

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.