The Dying of the Light: why Buxton has the right credentials for this spooktacular season
During the Victorian period, the interest in the supernatural was at its height. Seances, Ouija boards and Victorian mediums proliferated, drawing on our fascination with things which were still not able to be explained by the science of the day. Certain places in the country seem more given to these imaginings and Buxton certainly has the right credentials.
Firstly, we are surrounded by ancient burial mounds, often denoted by the word ‘low’, which originates from the Old English for burial mound ‘hlaw’. In Burbage, we have Grin Low, topped by Solomon’s Temple, and Ladmanlow; in Fairfield, Fairfield Low which hosts a copse referred to locally as Skellybob Wood; in Harpur Hill, Fox Low; and Staden Low at Staden.
Secondly, all these lows sit on ley lines, invisible lines, paths or roads joining sites of ancient and spiritual importance together. If you like, we might call them road maps from our long-distant past. But why do so many lines converge here? What was it that our ancestors knew that we have forgotten? Perhaps we can conjure up spirits here more easily. Particularly from Halloween to the winter solstice, it was believed that the boundary between this world and the otherworld would thin so that ‘spirits’ could more easily pass into our world.
Thirdly, Buxton is an ancient place. Its history reaches back to Mesolithic times. In 1984, an archeological dig at Lismore Fields in Buxton found the remains of a Meso-Neolithic village. Amongst other things discovered, was the Grimstone ware bowl, believed to be one of the oldest pots in the UK at 5,500 years old. Read about it on the Buxton Museum blog here.
We have a unique history which is shrouded in the ancient myths and mysteries of its waters which emerge from the depths of the earth, warm and surrounded by mists.
Finally, we are in a hollow, high in the Pennines, which has long-been a notorious place to travel to, but equally hard to leave. At over 1000 feet above sea level, the town sits in a deep bowl: everywhere you look, the roads lead downwards to this place from the high moors.
We are a town known for its magic waters and we have attracted travellers for thousands of years. You can be sure that people have been walking and leaving their imprint on this place for thousands of years.