In these unprecedented times it gives me great pleasure to share with you some good news and mention a piece of pertinent history.
There is a new blue plaque on the wall of the Old Hall Hotel here in Buxton which tells of the frequent visits between 1573- 1584 by my good self whilst held in captivity by my goodly cousin Queen Elizabeth I of England.
As historical research reveals more information hitherto unknown about our past, this plaque will enable visitors and local people to learn more about a very unusual thread of the story of Buxton. Visitors are always taken aback to find out that ‘Mary woz ere’!
The Marie Stuart Society also offers their grateful thanks to both the Old Hall Hotel and Discover Buxton Tours for the funding of the plaque. About time it was put right in my opinion. This part of my history has been kept hidden for too long.
Unfortunately, we must await the ‘unveiling’ of the plaque perhaps for later in the year.
The Society presented the Old Hall Hotel with a small maquette of Mary Queen of Scots in October 2019, which visitors can see in a cabinet near the reception. Other maquettes have been presented to Peterborough Cathedral, Fotheringhay Church and Sheffield Manor Lodge in England.
The plaque and the maquette plus the replica etched window in the entrance hall demonstrate the importance of this wonderful building in the life of Mary Queen of Scots and the Elizabethan court who came to take the natural spring waters.
Marie Stuart, Queen of Scots, first arrived here in Buxton on August 21st, 1573 having ‘stated her case’ to her cousin Elizabeth 1st Queen of England in the 6th year of her captivity. Her health was deteriorating because she was kept in cold damp castles such as Sheffield and Tutbury, both medieval castles. In contrast Wingfield Manor, Sheffield Manor Lodge and Chatsworth were comfortable but the restriction on her exercise was reducing a very fit young woman, who would be considered athletic today, to an invalid, suffering symptom of rheumatism. Mary believed the waters would alleviate her aches and pains, which indeed they did!
Elizabeth was very unwilling to grant permission at first but after George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, her custodian, had built the Talbot Tower (the central structure of today’s Old Hall Hotel) Mary was granted leave to be brought to Buxton guarded by 100 of Shrewsbury’s men. Security was to be of the utmost importance. There was to be no possibility that Mary would escape with help from those who would wish her freedom, whatever their motives.
What a melting pot!
Mary was a Catholic and great granddaughter of Henry 7th and whom Catholics believed was the rightful Queen of England as well as Scotland. Elizabeth was a Protestant born to Henry 8th and Anne Boleyn whom the Catholics believed to be a bastard as they did not acknowledge his divorce from his first Queen Katherine of Aragon and therefore, not the rightful Queen of England. It was also a time of huge religious upheaval. George Talbot had married for a second time to Lady Elizabeth St Loe, previously Cavendish, to become known as Bess of Hardwick. Both mature with grown children and extremely rich, it was a marriage of two of the wealthiest people in the country. Each of their two eldest children were also married to consolidate the Shrewsbury dynasty.
Elizabeth chose the Shrewsbury’s to be Mary’s custodians because they were Protestants, wealthy, loyal and great landowners within the Midlands, well away from the coast, the Scottish border and London.
And so, to Buxton where Mary gained much respite from her aches and pains when bathing and drinking the waters blessed by St Ann, but also an opportunity to encounter members outside her own household.
As a Queen she was to be kept in captivity but allowed privileges: She had a right to diplomatic representation and the use of ceremonies and protocol appropriate to a royal court albeit on a reduced scale. Also some rights to exercise and occasionally to ride out to within a mile or two of her lodgings. She dod express her thoughts and being a prolific letter writer we know of her deep sense of grievance throughout the tedium and trauma of confinement. We are talking about a Queen kept imprisoned illegally for what would be nearly 19 years.
In my next post I will tell you how these rights were enforced in reality, and her daily life whilst in Buxton.
Jane Collier
Chair English Branch, Marie Stuart Society
Discover Buxton Tour Guide and re-enactor of Marie Stuart, Queen of Scots.