theBuxtonian
Volume 01 Number 02 - July 2023
Buxton the Built Environment
Editorial Group
Mike Wilde (BCA Trustee - Membership and Communities Group)
Jon White (BCA Trustee - Places and Spaces Group)
John Phillips (BCA Trustee - Press and Media)
Lindsey Wakefield (BCA Trustee - Biodiversity Group)
Simon Fussell (BCA Business Development Manager)
Page 4-5
Page 6-11
Page 12-13
Editorial
Green Space is not enough
Buxton Architects
Page 14-15 Interview with Michael Williams
Page 16-22
A Safe Haven in the Hills
Page 23-29 Buxton Opera House
Page 30-35 Current Study
End Notes Building on lessons from the past
Jon White
John Phillips
John Phillips
Julian Cohen
Trevor Gilman
Simon Fussell & Lindsey Wakefield
John Phillips
I like buildings that have lasted because they are loved. I like buildings that have soul. I like buildings that blend in with each other and the beautiful natural landscape in which they are set. Buildings I want to reach out and touch, to experience, to explore and to research.
Buxton is blessed with numerous time-mellowed buildings that provide intriguing mementos of days consigned to history. Many of Buxton’s more famous buildings are probably appreciated more by visitors than by our own townsfolk who, perhaps from familiarity, sometimes fail to notice the grace, elegance and charm of them.
Imagine Buxton’s skyline without the Dome, without The Crescent, The Old Hall or The Palace Hotels, deprived of our wonderful Opera House, The Square, the Pavilion Gardens and Broad Walk, Saint John’s Church and the fine examples of Arts and Crafts houses. These are just some examples of the precious buildings and spaces that bring our community together, strengthening relationships between people and the built environment in which they live, work and play.
To ensure this rich inheritance of historically valuable and beautiful residential and commercial architecture survives, it needs to be environmentally sustainable to remain financially viable so that people will continue to invest in them. To survive this far, these buildings have had to meet several basic principles. They have functioned by meeting our needs and served our purpose well; they have inspired and lifted our spirits with a sense of beauty and delight. Design techniques of the past that considering the aesthetics of a building and its context, implementing the technology and the materials available at the time and being mindful of the methods used in their construction, has left a rich architectural legacy that has helped improve our lives. These buildings have succeeded because they have stood the test of time.
Our legacy to future generations must be to make sure these buildings continue to thrive. We must seek to adapt them to cope with the evermore dramatic and noticeable changes in our climate. We must make them sustainable in an increasingly challenging and changing world. Existing and developing technologies
could make this possible if there were a willingness to take advantage of and incorporate the most modern materials and building technologies. If building planners and conservation officials were more often to be persuaded to allow the incorporation and use of energy saving building materials, many buildings would have a more certain future. As it is, current legislation designed to preserve such buildings and their important features can sometimes work against the long term viability of owning, maintaining, living and working in them.
It is now well recognised that buildings are vital to our well-being and mental health. It has been calculated that we humans spend 90% of our lives indoors. Well thought out buildings not only provide us with shelter, safety, and security, they can create a sense of place and identity. The design and layout of buildings have a significant impact on our mood, behaviour, and our productivity. If they are well-lit, well ventilated, and comfortable to be inside they can promote a sense of calmness and well-being. On the other hand, poorly designed buildings that are cramped, dark, and noisy often create stress, anxiety, and poor mental health. Buildings also play an important role in facilitating social interaction and community cohesion. They provide spaces for people to come together, share experiences, and build relationships. We are fortunate in Buxton to have such places and spaces but they must be looked after and as we replace or build anew, we must make sure that they are good for our mental health. Jon White’s article looks to the experience of an Italian town for ideas on how we can best achieve this in Buxton
Some of our older buildings also provide homes for our wonderful summer visitors, Swifts and House Martins who will return to the same nest site year after year. We need to ensure they are looked after too, and when we renovate our buildings we must allow for the preservation and retention of their nest sites as well as ensuring that new buildings incorporate nest boxes and bricks for them to use.
The next edition of the Buxtonian will feature papers and articles on water both in the natural environment and as part of the urban landscape. Water has played a key part in shaping the landscape in and around Buxton, and a key role in the development of the town.
We are planning to publish in the third week in December. Flooding
“As the current generation of custodians, we must not fail them.”
Buxton has grown from a small rural hamlet to the bustling town it is today in several distinct phases. While there remains speculation regarding the site and extent of buildings erected during the Roman period, archaeological finds suggest that there was extensive trading activity together with some substantial buildings. The warm water emerging from the spring will have been an encouragement for settlers, although there is uncertainty regarding how the water was used and whether it was considered too sacred to actually drink.
Following the departure of the Romans from Britain, their built legacy was recycled in the form of some large stone blocks being incorporated into new buildings. There is evidence in the Market Place of Roman stone being reused, suggesting that the Roman constructions gradually fell into disrepair and that the later constructors decided not to let good stone go to waste. The Old Hall hotel was a very early addition to the built environment of Buxton, dating from around 1520.
However, it was in the Georgian & Victorian periods that the layout of Buxton central was established, following the construction the Central Zone –incorporating the Crescent, Pavilion Gardens, the Octagon, the Arboretum and the Buxton Baths, now the Cavendish Arcade. The building which became the Dome provided accommodation for horses, while the Opera House provided entertainment for visitors. Large hotels and small guest houses were built during this period of rapid expansion. (Based on Morten, 2018)
In due course the popularity of the spa treatments waned and there followed a period of decline in the second half of the 20th Century. Nevertheless, Buxton’s population has continued to increase, with the development of new areas of housing on the perimeter of the town. Fairfield, Harpur Hill and Hogshaw are examples of communities which have increased in size considerably in recent years. While these developments are broadly welcome, it is clear to all that the traffic flow through the town has steadily increased, along with a general decrease in air quality at certain times of the day. The current road network struggles to cope with the increase in traffic which has come from an increase in the population living and working in Buxton. (HPBC, 2022)
Business has brought a renewed level of prosperity to Buxton, with the quarrying and limestone industry, water bottling and several small factories being the principal employers. Tourism also features significantly in the economic picture of the area. The woods
surrounding Buxton provide a living ring of trees around the town and a readily accessible opportunity for visitors and residents to benefit from the experience of walking in woodland. (Boardman, 2010; Noble 2021) As can be seen from this short review of how Buxton has continued to evolve over the generations, looking forward over the next period of development, is it time to ask the question as to whether there needs to be a re-setting of urban development priorities? The key challenges of the next phase of development will need to consider
• The needs of children as citizens
• The issues caused by increased traffic flow
• The need to create safe places and spaces for all
To explore these themes, a starting point for reflection will now be made on what happened in a small Italian city during reconstruction following World War 2, where, against all the odds, they found a way of doing things differently.
Perhaps we could consider our options in the light of this experience?
Taking the opportunity to do things differently: Reggio Emilia
Situated in northern Italy, between Parma and Modena, lies the city of Reggio Emilia. It has a rich and varied history, with periods of great prosperity followed by decline. While larger and more industrialised, there are some similarities to Buxton, although it would be unwise to draw too many parallels (istat, 2021). Reggio has a history of highs and lows in its levels of prosperity and a rich, varied and popular architecture. It also lies between town urban conglomerates yet has easy access to some beautiful countryside.
Perhaps Reggio’s most famous son was the teacher, Loris Malaguzzi. Born in 1920, he grew up in nearby Correggio, experiencing life under fascism. Training as a teacher during the war, he is said to have been walking near to the river when he came across a group of women cleaning bricks and scrap metal from a German tank. It appeared that these women were very angry with the local government in general and wanted to use the salvaged materials to build a pre-school for their children. They were keen to be able to work and needed to have high quality childcare available. But most of all, they wanted a new type of education, one in which justice, inequality and repression were not tolerated. Later, they were reported as being unaware of how
revolutionary their words were at that time and had no idea of how their passion would transform not only their immediate lives but make their town an international centre for early childhood education.
Malaguzzi was urged to help them teach the children and the first pre-school opened in 1946. Parents and local families were directly involved in running the school and deciding what and how the children should be taught. They took in many children from neighbouring cities e.g. Bologna and Milan, who had been orphaned during the war. There was a revolutionary shift from the traditional teaching strategies with which they were all familiar to on which embodied four guiding principles.
1. Children learn best when families and community are engaged together.
2. Projects and adventures are led by children at their own pace.
3. Children use many “languages” to communicate how they feel and what they are thinking (Malaguzzi called this the “100 languages of children”).
4. Collaboration with other children and adults is critical to learning
In other words, children were being given the opportunity to take control of their learning. This sense of developing agency and recognition that each child is unique and expresses themselves differently gave this new approach momentum. Spreading across northern Italy, wider Europe and beyond, the value of this approach began to influence not just early childhood education, but municipal town planning as well.
In 1980, the Reggio Emilia approach achieved international recognition with the opening of the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre for Education. Its inaugural exhibition was The Hundred Languages of Children – A Narrative of the Possible.
Any visitor to Reggio Emilia will be immediately struck by how the city values the creative work of children.
Wherever you go, there are examples of children’s art, sculpture and creativity, contrasting dramatically with the huge advertising hoardings which dominate our streets and highways. Rather than allowing promotion of materials for sales and marketing, the municipality has taken on board the opportunity to showcase the original thinking that is going on in the Centre, giving children and their families ownership and investment within the community in which they live and work. We were told of the pride children have in their work when they see it displayed and how it increases their experience of citizenship.
The power has shifted from external agencies to rest more with the local people and their daily experiences, making it their Place and Space and indicative of the Restorative City envisioned by architects Roe and McCay (2021).
It appears that, over time, the citizens of Reggio Emelia have begun to recognise that part of their identity comes from the way in which they have embraced the hundred languages of children into their local community architecture. As Italy continues to receive many migrant children from North Africa and beyond, there is an imperative for adults involved with the care of both the Italian and the newly arrived immigrant children care to do what they can to ensure that children have opportunities to know who they are where they fit in to the world.
It appears that, over time, the citizens of Reggio Emelia have begun to recognise that part of their identity comes from the way in which they have embraced the hundred languages of children into their local community architecture. As Italy continues to receive many migrant children from North Africa and beyond, there is an imperative for adults involved with the care of both the Italian and the newly arrived immigrant children to do what they can to ensure that children have opportunities
religion, as well as more personal attributes such as self-concept and the impact of personal experiences which will be likely to change over time.
For the children, knowing that they are valued by their community, and are co-collaborators in its construction, rather than being “othered” and treated as outsiders, encourages the sense of being part of a cultural network. This concept has been developed by Mac Naughton (2005), a writer in early childhood, who explores the concept through rhizoanalysis, in which a plant e.g. ginger, will have a complex underground structure of which the gardener largely unaware. This is a way of trying to understand how children grow and develop their thinking over time: it is a process which never finishes and upon which multiple factors may impact without the adults being aware. Therefore children, whether they are brought up in their hometown or have
to know who they are and where they fit in to the world. They can be recognised as “meaning makers” in the sense of they are both “Othered” (seen as outsiders, as proposed by Castenada, 2002) whilst at the same time being considered as innocent children. (Benhabib, 1992). Two photos from a demonstration in Milan illustrate the prevailing mood, which is that people, and especially unaccompanied children, are seen as victims who need support rather than as “illegals” who need to be contained. If the local cultural identity is one in which children are valued and respected no matter where they are from, then we are all stronger (Foucault, 2020) and we can begin to understand history in a new way.
Trying to define cultural identity is difficult, as it relates to so many aspects of an individual, e.g. ethnicity, nationality,
arrived from far away, are in the process of “becoming”. The Silent Book project, initiated by the librarian in Lampedusa, recognised the importance of this. (McGillicuddy, 2019)
Many thousands of picture books were sent to the library so that people could sit and read without words, stories which could be shared even when the adult and child did not share a language. As Lampedusa is the nearest Italian island to the North African coast, it hosted many, many migrant children and their families before they were able to be moved to other destinations. It was clear that the “shared reading” experienced was of benefit not only to the children but to the community as the children were made to feel welcome and valued in their new country, embraced as individuals rather than being seen as a threat, a liability or an invasion. Many countries have opened their borders to such children and families, supporting the integration of this new generation.
It is now time to discuss the impact of the built environment on their “becomings”. What can we do to increase their sense of being strong and powerful members of a community who will grow to value their community and themselves as citizens.
that an environment where the air quality is low has a detrimental impact on our health. In particular, children and young people are increasingly prone to conditions such as asthma, while older people’s health may be exacerbated e.g. with bronchitis and emphysema.
The impact of overcrowding is a wellknown problem in big cities, as they attract people in from surrounding countryside. However, it is not limited to cities as we see in Buxton the impact of house building increasing the demands on community services such as health and social care, educational opportunities and the increased traffic flow at peak times. All are under stress by a slow and steady increase in the population. Whether the social spaces e.g. parks and gardens or the services available are sufficient to meet the needs of the population they serve remains to be seen.
The restrictions faced by communities around the world during the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated how urban design can affect our mental health. During lockdowns we all recognised the return of nature to our streets and how, without the hum of traffic, we began to hear birdsong again. As with the developments in town planning over the years, there is an opportunity to think about how our built environments might be different –is what we have now a viable blueprint for the future. We all know that mental healthcare services are under increasing pressure, so why would we want to return to “life before lockdown” when there might be a better way? Our surroundings affect us. It is wearing to live in an environment that experiences noise pollution, whether that is from vehicles, construction or aircraft, it makes us increasingly irritable. Similarly, Patricos (2002) suggested
Finally, the issue of safety. We do not need to look hard to see that the town streets are over-run with cars and heavy lorries. Of course, we all recognise that the motor car has become integral to our way of life, but can we really say that the current relationship between motorists is sustainable in the long term? Streets used to be places where children could play in safety, but that is a long time ago for most of us, as recognised by Rowe and Koetter (1978) in their ground-breaking analysis “Collage City”. The flow of traffic through most small towns is becoming a nightmare for many citizens, and the queues to enter towns are often a deterrent for visitors.
The idea of a super block is not new but is worth revisiting in the light of the need for effective town planning. It is such a simple concept that it took a little while to appreciate the impact such a development could have. How it has been applied in large cities e.g. Barcelona and Milan can be seen via https://youtu.be/CLjqGwo5QaA If they can do it in their congested urban environments, surely we can?
So what needs to happen to create a “superblock”?
A town centre area needs to be identified and the boundary delineated clearly. Buxton lends itself to this as the town centre is relatively small and identifiable. A one-way system is established, in which cars are directed through from one side of town to the other. Streets are therefore now one-way which would allow
Green Space is not enoughfor wider pavements and more street furniture, such as seating and planters for flowers. Art work, ideally from members of the local community, could be displayed giving a sense of how the community has ownership, which Ha and Kim (2022) suggest leads to a healthier urban living experience for both residents and visitors. Parking for cars could be re-imagined. There are few places where there is an expectation that you will be able to park a car directly adjacent to the place you are visiting. A short walk is often the norm. Therefore it would be necessary to increase the car parking availability on the periphery of the town centre.
The beneficial outcomes of creating a superblock are then immediately clear.
1. Quieter town centre environments with less noise from traffic.
2. Improved air quality with fewer cars and more trees and plants.
3. Increased social space for young and old.
4. A safer environment where pedestrians are not at risk of being run over and children can play in the streets.
It may not create a 15-minute town (where all key services are a short walk away), but it would be a step in the right direction.
Such restoration of towns and cities explores a new way of designing our living spaces, where mental health and wellness are seen as a priority. Roe and MCCay (2021) suggest that there are six key aspects to consider when working to design places which enhance mental health.
1. Green areas: street trees in particular, with species chosen which can withstand whatever the climate emergency weather throws at them.
2. Space for play: exercise areas for adults and children. While there are examples of these facilities in the Pavilion Gardens, they could be brought into town as well. How often have we seen people sitting playing
chess, boule or other social games in town centres of European cities?
3. Neighbourly: there are possibilities of being able to make now friends if the street environment is more sociable rather than being dominated by vehicles.
4. Sensory experiences: art and sculpture, as described in Reggio Emilia, could be on display and encourage street art and street theatre all year round rather than just being confined to the Festivals.
5. Blue areas: water features in town. Buxton is famous for its water, so why not design and plan water features – as we can see in so many European cities?
6. Activities: opportunities to meet and discuss with neighbours.
Mitchell (2013) had already considered the possible impact of these kinds of initiatives through the concept of equigenesis, suggesting that the benefits to the community will be greatest for those who do not necessarily have access to them in their own home environment. If someone already has a nice garden with water features and their own exercise and social areas, they will inevitably benefit less than someone who is not so fortunate. Consequently, this becomes a type of levelling up in communities and puts into practice the social justice agenda that our towns need.
While these proposals would require a change in our priorities, are they really so far removed from being possible? Large cities continue to embrace them, planning to future-proof the welfare of their population, recognising that the current developments in traffic management are unsustainable and there is a need to reclaim the streets from cars. If a Super-Block was created, making Water Street and the area outside the Old Hall one way, the improvement in the town centre especially in the historic area of Buxton around the Opera House, Old Hall Hotel, The Crescent and the Quadrant would be of benefit to all now and in the future.
These reflections began with a recognition that Buxton, like many towns, has gone through developmental changes over the years. From periods of prosperity to harder times, the process of change has been relentless. The premise being considered is that what we have here and now is not the only possible version of Buxton. They recognised that in post war Italy, a small group
of strong women challenged the status quo in Reggio Emilia and said that they were going to do things differently in the future. The philosophy guiding them was one which put children first and demonstrated that for communities to thrive, there needs to be an engagement with children and young people from whatever place they originate.
In order to put these ideas into practice, the creation of a super-block in the town centre is proposed, where traffic is limited and the pavements can be reclaimed by people. Katz (1994) described this as an “architecture of community”, something in which we are all invested. The ensuing benefits to mental health of individuals and communities would contribute to the overall well being and prosperity of the town for generations to come. To paraphrase Le Corbusier (1946)
Source material
Benhabib S (1992) Situating the Self Cambridge: Polity Press
Boardman J and Boardman G (2010) Ring of Trees Buxton Civic Association
Castenada C (2002) Figurations Durham NC: Duke University Press
Corbusier L (1946) Towards a New Architecture The Architectural Press
Edwards C, Gandini L and Forman G (2011) The Hundred Languages of Children Praeger
Foucault M (2020) The Foucault Reader Penguin Modern Classics
High Peak Borough Council (2022) Air Quality Review https://www.highpeak.gov.uk/article/342/Air-quality
Istat (2021) Reggio Emilia city data - https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/156224
Ha J and Kim H (2022) Green Space alone is not enough: a landscape analysis linking green space and mental health Landscape and Urban Planning 218, Feb 2022 104309
Katz P (1994) The new urbanism: towards an architecture of community McGraw Hill
Mac Naughton G (2005) Doing Foucault in Early Childhood Studies: applying post-structural ideas Routledge
McGillicuddy A (2019) Silent Books Breaking Down Barriers with Wordless Picturebooks: “The Silent Books Exhibition, from the World to Lampedusa and Back” Studies in Arts and Humanities 4(2):108-122
Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford Accessed 14/4/23 https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/ resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/
Mitchell R, Richardson E, Short N Pearce (2015) Neighbourhood Environments and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Mental Well-Being: Equigenesis: levelling up with green spaces American Journal of Preventive Medicine Volume 49, Issue 1, July 2015, Pages 80-84
Morten D (2018) Buxton in 50 Buildings Amberley Press
Patricos N (2002) Urban Design Principles of the neighbourhood concept Urban Morphology 6 (1) 21-22
Roe J and McCay L (2021) Restorative Cities: urban design for mental health and well-being Bloomsbury
Rowe C and Koetter F (1978) Collage City Taylor and Francis
The author wishes to extend his thanks and appreciation to his grandson Sam Duncan, currently reading Architecture at the University of Liverpool, without whose guidance this article could not have been written.
Buxton’s architecture is celebrated around the world, but less celebrated are two Buxton architects who had a global influence of their own.
Sir Raymond Unwin and Barry Parker left their mark here in Buxton with a handful of imposing homes in the Arts and Crafts style, inspired by William Morris, on Lightwood Road, Carlisle Road and College Road.
But it is now believed that their names should be mentioned in the same breath as the architectural geniuses Frank Lloyd-Wright and Le Corbusier — and perhaps more should be made in Buxton of their worldwide renown.
Rotherham-born Unwin (1863 - 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing.
Parker (1867-1947) was born in Chesterfield, the son of a bank manager for whom he designed three large houses in Buxton after training at an art college in Derby. Later work included Chetwynd House, home of the ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.
The two men formed a partnership in Buxton in 1896,and drawing on inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement as well as socialist principles, they combined building homes for the rich with designs aimed at improving housing standards for the working classes, who they believed deserved the same right to living spaces which would offer more than just shelter and a place to sleep.
Parker and Unwin encapsulated their ideas in a book, The Art of Building A Home (1901), and as a result of their influence thousands of homes were built using their principles in the early part of the 20th century.
While their legacy in Buxton is limited to a few imposing homes, they used a bigger canvas elsewhere to create towns and even a “city”, although more in name than status.
In 1902 Parker and Unwin were asked to design a model village at New Earswick near York for Joseph and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, and the following
year they were given the opportunity to take part in the creation of Letchworth when the First Garden City Company asked them to submit a plan. Letchworth Garden City was designed to give its residents extensive parkland and open spaces, jobs, services and good housing, as well as Britain’s first road roundabout.
In 1904 their “Cottages near a Town Exhibit” for the Northern Art Workers Guild of Manchester was adopted, and a year later they drew up the plan for what is now known as Hampstead Garden Suburb, working in conjunction with Edward Lutyens.
The two men dissolved their partnership as each focused on different aspects of architecture. Unwin concentrated more and more on public sector work, and Parker expanded his private practice to take in work as far afield as Portugal and Brazil.
Unwin became technical adviser to the Greater London Regional Planning Committee and was President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) from 1915 to 1916, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) from 1931 to 1933, was knighted in 1932 and consulted by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the New Deal in 1933. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University in 1937.
Parker and Unwin’s approach was similar to that of Lloyd-Wright and Le Corbusier, whose work has been described as “total planning”, with every detail, from roads to interior design of houses, decided from the outset.
But their British counterparts also deserve recognition as “total planners,” author John Astley has written in the Icon, the global design and architecture magazine.
“By 1901 Unwin and Parker published The Art of Building a Home where the emphasis on a home rather just a house should be noted as this reflects the high value they placed on meeting the needs of ‘real’ people,” wrote, Astley, the author of the 2012 book Access to Eden on arts and crafts design and architecture, the garden city movement and housing policy legislation.
Buxton architects who built a better world should be as famous as Frank Lloyd-Wright and Le Corbusier
“They advocated and incorporated all the latest techniques, and were committed to an aesthetic that promoted curved roads with grass verges and trees, the cul-de-sac, integral parks and green spaces, allotments, public buildings like community centres, schools, workshops and so on.
“In 1902 Unwin published a Fabian Society tract, Cottage Plans and Common Sense, where he lists basic requirements; size, light, furniture, garden etcetera that were fit for purpose. This was a period when designers of housing for working people actually included a kitchen and bathroom, in addition to a scullery. Unwin and Parker also argued that when planning an ‘estate’ there was ‘nothing to be gained from overcrowding.’
“Unwin’s desire to be involved in the creation of new ‘communities’ (still a contested concept) reflects his definition of a community as a free association of individuals, with harmony between people and their environment,” wrote Astley.
After his early collaborations Unwin was lured into a more back office role with the Ministry of Health as an advisor. Parker carried on with his architectural practice. It should be remembered that before and after the 1914-18 War public health was a key social policy priority, and up to and including Aneurin Bevan in the 1940s, the minister of health was also the minister of housing.
As Astley puts it: “Perhaps it is time now to return to that link?”
The history of Buxton has all too often been dogged by the difficulty of finding a new use for an historic building. The Duke of Devonshire’s stables became a hospital, and then a university; the Pump room languished for years before housing a micrarium, eventually finding its current role as a visitor centre; and Buxton Hydropathic Hotel has been Buxton Museum longer than it ever welcomed guests to the best-sprung dance floor in the Peak, now part of the Green Man Gallery.
But Buxton Opera House still does what it says on the tin: opera.
The importance of having a real purpose when bringing life back to an historic building is at the heart of what Buxton International Festival has been doing for more than 40 years.
“It’s obvious to say that Buxton International Festival wouldn’t exist without Buxton Opera House,” said its Chief Executive Officer, Michael Williams,
“Festival founder Malcolm Fraser was inspired to bring opera back to life here nearly five decades ago when he saw it being used as a cinema.
“However, it’s not courting controversy to say that Buxton Opera House wouldn’t be an opera house without opera in it. A rose by any other name may still smell as sweet, and an Odeon is still an Odeon when it’s a bingo hall, but a casino—a fate it only narrowly avoided — is definitely not an opera house.”
So as BCA members focus on the built environment in this issue of The Buxtonian, it’s a good time to think about the inner life of our buildings, and BIF is a good example of an organisation which has brought the past full circle and given them a future.
And the fact is that, almost as much as its waters and its stone, Buxton is a town built on music, and BIF is committed to filling the Opera House’s space with pioneering work which reflects its place in history.
The Opera House’s history and architectural merits are better covered elsewhere in this edition by Trevor Gilman, and Michael said: “BIF is very proud to have played such an important part in its history.
“I am very interested in what I call ‘opera of place’, creating new works which are linked thematically to the
area where they are performed. The first of these was about Buddha when I was in Nepal, then a work about Tiger Bay in Cardiff and Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
“So it seemed logical to do something similar in Buxton, and the figure of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, the 18th century beauty with a rather eventful and somewhat tragic life, was the focus for BIF’s critically acclaimed 2019 pasticcio in which music of the period was used to tell her story, the highlight of BIF’s 40th anniversary programme.”
The production went on to win the Achievement Award in Opera at the annual UK Theatre Awards held at London’s Guildhall—and was a wonderful curtain-raiser for the re-opening of Buxton’s most important building, The Crescent, built by Georgiana’s husband.
And this year, BIF is putting one of Buxton’s most important historical figures centre stage in another opera of place with the world premiere of The Land of MightHave-Been, which follows Testament of Youth author Vera Brittain and Roland Leighton as they unexpectedly fall in love over a long hot summer in Buxton before the shadow of war fell across them in 1914.
Michael said: “The production will return Buxton to its halcyon days when ragtime was sweeping through every ballroom; where debutante balls were the Tinder of the day and chaperones were the curse of every young woman in love; where the call of King and Country stirred the imagination of young men everywhere and the power of love kept hope alive in the darkest of times.” The Festival has grown so much over the years that it now needs more venues, and Buxton’s architectural treasure trove has provided excellent settings for its literary talks and concerts.
As well as the Opera House, BIF’s main sites are the Pavilion Arts Centre (PAC), The Octagon and St John’s Church. St John’s is an obvious case of using a building pretty much as it was intended: music was always central to its existence.
And the Octagon really is the beating heart of what the Pavilion Gardens used to be all about. In 1858, when the seventh Duke of Devonshire inherited his title, one of the burning issues of the day in terms of Buxton’s tourism industry was music.
Live music was seen then—and now, if the success of BIF in bringing visitors each year is any indication— as vital to keeping tourists happy.
So when the agenda for discussing plans for a Winter Garden were being drawn up, a public meeting unanimously resolved: “This meeting is of the opinion that it is desirable that there should be a public building and enclosed gardens for the band to play in and in which visitors could promenade during all weathers.”
Robert Rippon Duke, the architect behind the Devonshire Dome, The Palace Hotel and many other Buxton buildings, was in charge, and what is now everything apart from the Octagon took shape.
But the glass-walled pleasure halls soon became overcrowded, and Rippon Duke, asked to expand them, decided on a more radical solution: a new, separate concert hall, now the Octagon.
One hundred feet by 60, it was designed to seat 1,000 people “with security against draughts,” and an entrance for those arriving by carriage on St Johns Road offering easy access to the more expensive seats.
“When necessary, the hall could be used separately while the Pavilion as a promenade would not be interfered with,” wrote Rippon Duke with his usual foresight.
However, The Octagon layout was to come much later and after much debate, summed at the time by a report that said: “”Mr Duke and himself (the chairman of the company building it) had recently laid their heads together and he need not say that the larger head of the two was Mr Duke’s.”
Mr Duke said that “he believed he had succeeded in designing a building which would be satisfactory, one in which music would not be spoiled.”
But scepticism about its design grew until it finally opened in 1876, with the Buxton Advertiser commenting after the opening concert: “A curious little cosmos is Buxton; every man knows his neighbour’s business and as there is little to do in winter, when one man works and six look on and criticise, there has scarcely been a stone or plank that has not received its inspection and comment.
“Everybody appeared to make acoustics his favourite study and no end of nonsense has been uttered on the
subject… ‘the pillars will split up in the waves of sound’, said one… ‘the music would go through the roof’ said another, while a third gave it that ‘it would go down the corridor and be lost. Where are these fault-finders and babblers now? As soon as the first notes of the National Anthem came from the band of The King’s Guards all doubts vanished.”
Musicians ranging from the Hallé Orchestra to The Beatles have since proved this to be true, although in the late 1960s and early 1970s when The Octagon became something of a centre for Blues and Progressive Rock, the fear that the pillars could be split up by sound waves nearly came close to becoming reality, especially when it’s said that Ginger Baker’s Airforce nearly blasted its windows out!
True to its roots as a theatre, the PAC has played many roles. The oldest theatre still standing in Buxton, having been opened in 1889, it was put into the shade by its big brother next door when Buxton Opera House opened in 1903, later becoming a cinema showing silent movies.
Live drama returned in 1932, when it became The Playhouse, used as a satellite of London’s theatreland from 1937 to 1942 when the Old Vic Theatre ran an annual festival of plays. Its repertory company included Sir Nigel Hawthorne, no less, and right up until the 1970s was a venue for one-act play competitions and amateur groups such as Buxton Drama League and Buxton Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society.
As The Paxton Suite it took on a variety of roles including as a conference hall and home to book, record and craft fairs until it closed in 2010 and work on the modern, multi-purpose theatre and cinema we see today began. “Anyone reading this edition of The Buxtonian is bound to be interested in the town’s buildings,” said Michael.
“But BIF would hope that—even if you don’t like opera— you will take the opportunity this year to see at least one of our productions in the Opera House if only to fully appreciate Frank Matcham’s vision of how he intended its stones and mortar to come to life through this unique form of music and drama.”
For more details about the 2023 BIF programme, go to https://buxtonfestival.co.uk/news-and-blog/ buxton-international-festival-2023
By the early 1930s Hitler and the Nazis were gaining control of Germany. Soon they were to invade neighbouring countries, such as Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Discrimination and violence against Jewish people was increasing and would lead to the horrendous reality of the Holocaust and the Nazi death camps. By 1939 Britain was at war with Germany.
Some Jews, who had the means, were able to flee Germany and the occupied countries. In many cases parents got their children out but later perished themselves in the Concentration Camps.
The best known example of the United Kingdom welcoming Jewish refugee children was the ‘Kindertransport’, which is German for ‘children’s transport’. This was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazicontrolled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The UK took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Germany and
surrounding countries. The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, schools, and farms. Often they were the only members of their families who survived the Holocaust.
A few ‘Kindertransport’ children came to live here in Buxton during the Second World War. However, Buxton also had its own, informal scheme to save Jewish children from the Nazis, operated through Buxton College.
Buxton College – part of the building is pictured below - was founded as long ago as 1675. At first it was a boy’s Public School but from 1923 it became a grammar school, with a small number of boys as boarders. In time, the school merged with other Buxton schools to become part of the present comprehensive system of education in Buxton.
From 1923, until 1944, the headmaster of Buxton College was Arthur Mason. According to R. BoltonKing’s, ‘History of Buxton College 1675-1970’, in the 1930s, ‘Mr Mason accepted about 30 …… refugee
German boys of Jewish Extraction .... as boarders. ....For this act of humanity and generosity (in some cases he charged no fees and bore the whole cost himself) he met with a fair amount of local criticism.’
It is not clear whether the local ‘criticism’ of Arthur Mason was anti-Semitic, although one might expect at least some of it was. Mason was clearly an exceptional human being in offering sanctuary to these refugee boys.
Few of the boys remained in Buxton as adults. However, research by David Roberts - to be found in the blogs of his excellent website, robertspublications. com - has discovered that a number of them went on to achieve great things in life. Here are the stories of some of the Jewish refugee boys who attended Buxton College.
In 1933, at the age of 15 years old, Heinz Thannhauser (above) travelled by train from Berlin to Buxton College. He boarded here until 1935. Heinz was, according to the historian of the college, one of the most brilliant boys ever to attend the school. Despite speaking very little English when he arrived in the UK, within a few years Heinz went on to be awarded a first class degree at Cambridge
University in English Literature and Language and gain a Fellowship to Harvard University in America.
When the Americans entered the 2nd World War in 1941 he joined the US Air Force as a radio operator and gunner. In August 1944, the plane that Heinz was flying in crashed into a hill, soon after take-off. Sadly, all eight members of the crew were killed. Heinz is commemorated on the War Memorial on the Slopes in Buxton. Other Jewish refugee boarders at Buxton College went on to have very interesting lives.
E.G. (also known as George Ernest) Kristeller was from Berlin and via Buxton College went on to live in America and work for the World Bank. He died in 2016.
Hans Leo Kleyff, who later changed his name to John Leonard Clive, was born in Berlin and came to Buxton College in 1937. In 1940 he emigrated, with his family, to America. He became a professor of History and Literature at Harvard University and died in 1990.
Hans Bernard Heymann was also born in Berlin and was at Buxton College from 1933 to 1936. He then re-joined his family, who had already emigrated to America. In time, Hans became a senior economic adviser to the American government. He died in 2012.
Peter Edward Glasner was born in Czechoslovakia in 1923 and his family made it to the UK, as refugees, in 1939. After attending Buxton College he joined
the Allied Forces and fought for the Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade. After the war, Peter returned to the town in Czechoslovakia where he had been born, only to find that 35 members of his extended family had been killed by the Nazis, many in the death camps.
Peter emigrated to America in 1948. Following further study, he went on to work as a Project Manager at NASA on the Apollo 11 Mission, the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon in 1969. Peter died in 2014.
Horst Pinschewer, who later changed his name to Geoffrey Perry, was born in Berlin in 1922 and came to Buxton College with his elder brother in 1936 to escape Nazi persecution. He was interned here as an enemy alien in 1940 and spent several months behind barbed wire before being released and enlisting in the Pioneer Corps.
The Pioneer Corps was a unit of the British Army that included over 10,000 German, Austrian and Italian men who were living in this country at the outbreak of war. They were initially regarded as
‘enemy aliens’ and many were kept in internment camps for a period before being released and allowed to join the Allied war effort. A large number of young Jewish men were involved.
In 1945 Horst, or Geoffrey, was posted to Germany and with fellow British soldiers entered the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just days after it was liberated. He never forgot the horrors he saw there. Geoffrey’s unit captured Radio Hamburg and he gave the first Allied broadcast to the German people from the very microphone which days earlier William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) had used to deliver his final speech in support of the Nazis. (Haw-Haw was an American born Fascist who had a British passport and made radio broadcasts supporting the Nazis in the Second World War).
Even more amazingly, when William Joyce was attempting to flee near the Danish border, it was Geoffrey who shot and then arrested the notorious wartime traitor. Geoffrey later said, ‘How ironic it was that Joyce was arrested by a man who was essentially a German Jew, albeit in British army uniform’. After a trial, in early 1946, Joyce was hanged for high treason. Geoffrey continued to live in England and became a successful publisher, launching magazines like ‘Family Circle’ for sale in supermarkets. He died in London in 2014.
One of the Jewish refugee boys who boarded at Buxton College did stay in the locality. Herbert Eisner had been born in Berlin in 1921 and fled Germany for Buxton College in 1936. His parents escaped to London in 1939. When war broke out he was interned for a time on the Isle of Man, as a German alien. He later joined the British army and specialised in repairing tanks in India. To play down his origins Eisner changed his name to Evans and his fellow soldiers nicknamed him ‘Taffy’, despite his strong German accent.
In 1951 Herbert returned to Buxton and worked as a scientist at the Safety in Mines Establishment (SME), the precursor to the Health and Safety Laboratory. In 1954 he married Gisela Spanglet, who had come to the UK as a 13 year old Jewish girl on the Kindertransport. Most of her family were killed by the Nazis. Herbert became a world expect on controlling and extinguishing fires and for many
years was the director of the SME. He also wrote radio plays that were performed on BBC Radio 4 and authored a children’s book.
Herbert Eisner died in 2011 in Harrogate. His obituary in the Independent newspaper included the following:
‘Eisner seems to have been blessed with good luck all his life. Having escaped the Nazis, and having seen no active conflict during his military years, he later survived a road accident outside his home in Buxton. He was knocked down and taken to hospital, concussed. When he came round, the doctor introduced himself as Dr Moriarty. “I’m Sherlock Holmes,” quipped the barely conscious patient.’
As well as the Jewish refugee boys, who came to board at Buxton College, other Jewish families and individuals arrived in Buxton fleeing the Nazis in Europe, both before and during the 2nd World War. The heavy bombing of cities, such as London and Manchester, also led to people, and especially children, being evacuated to safer places. A number of these evacuees were Jewish. In addition, a unit of the Pioneer Corps - part of the British Army mainly used for engineering tasks - were stationed in Buxton during the war, and many of the Corps were Jewish men.
Altogether, it has been suggested that during the 2nd World War there were about 300 Jewish families living in Buxton. I am not sure that it was 300 families. It may have been 300 Jewish individuals. Either way, by the early 1940s, a real Jewish community had emerged in Buxton.
Jewish families came here and rented properties or stayed in boarding houses. A sizeable number of Jewish children, both refugees and evacuees, arrived in Buxton without their parents and were cared for by the Jewish families who had already
moved here and also by non-Jewish Buxton families.
I recently asked an elderly woman, who has lived in Fairfield all her life, whether she could remember Jewish children staying in Buxton during the war. Her quick reply went something like, ‘Remember! I had to give up my bedroom so a young Jewish girl could stay with us. I liked her a lot but I was not at all happy about sharing a bedroom with my sister because I didn’t get on with her.’
In her excellent book, ‘Buxtonians – A Hardy Breed’, Yvonne Chalker reproduced testimonies of the experiences of Jewish people who lived in Buxton during the war. The names are interesting in themselves and include: Selwyn Rose, Judith Usiskin, Harold Slutzkin, Joan Sklan, Arthur Weiss, Sabina Sussman, Irene Wineberg and Geoffrey Preger.
What these people say makes it clear that there was an active Jewish community operating in Buxton during the 2nd World War. By 1941 this included regular religious services. Friday evening services took place at 4 Lower Hardwick Street and Saturday morning services at Oddfellows Hall, on Market Street – shown today in the photo above.
A more pious and traditional congregation attended religious services at 36 Dale Road, at the
junction with Heath Park Road. Some of the men dressed in fur hats and long frock coats that were more common amongst Jews in East European countries. People say that, for a time, there was not one, but two, synagogues operating in Buxton. The arrangements included a proper rabbi to lead some of the services, a communal organising committee and Jewish religious education classes for the children.
The town’s Jewish community had other facilities. Somerford House, at 13 Terrace Road, is shown above as it is today, and was run as a kosher lodging house, with religious services sometimes taking place there. (Kosher means food that satisfies the requirements of Jewish dietary rules). The Pavilion was a kosher hotel on Hartington Road, backing on to the Broad Walk. There was also a special Jewish store, with kosher foods often bought in from Manchester.
I originally thought that Somerford House and the Pavilion Hotel were the only kosher accommodations in Buxton and that they probably opened in the 1930s, alongside the arrival of the Jewish refugees and evacuees who came to Buxton. However, a search of the archives of the
Jewish Chronicle, a London-based newspaper that exists to this day, revealed evidence of other, and earlier, kosher boarding facilities.
In 1901 a Mrs. A. Sackier was advertising her ‘Strictly Orthodox Jewish Boarding House’ at Lindow House on St. James Terrace. She had been born in Poland in 1859. Her husband, Lazarus, was born in Russia in 1857 and was a cap maker. The Sackiers moved to Buxton, from Prestwich in Manchester. I don’t know when they left.
However, by the time that Somerford House began promoting itself in the Jewish Chronicle in the early 1920s, it claimed to be, ‘The only Jewish boarding house in Buxton.’ The Somerford proprietor in 1925 was a Mrs. S. Freedberg, the wife of Reverend Freedberg of Manchester, presumably a rabbi. The Somerford was soon taken over by the Finkelsteins, whose ads said it was ‘Strictly Kosher’ and that Buxton was, ‘The Finest Health Resort in the Kingdom.’
In the early 1930s, a Mrs Woolfson was advertising her ‘Kosher Boarding House’, first on Avenue Terrace, Corbar Road and then at Lismore Villas, on Devonshire Road. In 1935, a Mrs B. Morris was marketing her Mazal Hotel at 12 Terrace Road, next door to Somerford House. (In Hebrew, mazal means ‘luck’, and ‘mazaltov’ means ‘congratulations’.) Attracting Jewish people from all over the country to enjoy the scenery, and use the spa treatments available in Buxton, obviously predates the 2nd World War.
Buxton hotels and boarding houses continued to advertise in the Jewish Chronicle during the war. The example (previous page) is from March 1941.
You can see that the proprietor of Somerford House was now H. Hofmann. Their ad promotes rheumatism cures at Buxton’s ‘famous spa’ and the fact that the town was a ‘Safety Area’, presumably referring to the relatively safety of Buxton, compared to the bombing of our cities, during the war. Business must have been good because, by 1945, under a new proprietor, F. Leitner, the Somerford was also operating an annexe at Roseneath, on Hardwick Mount. It continued to advertise in the Jewish Chronicle into the 1950s.
In 1941 the ‘Strictly Orthodox’ Pavilion Hotel on Hartington Road was run by Mrs. F. Goldstein. Again, there must have been plenty of business because there were no vacancies over Passover, an important Jewish festival. And there was another boarding house trying to attract Jewish clientele from outside the area, this one at Burbage Hall run by Mrs Elize Leopold, again stressing that, ‘Buxton is a Safety Area.’
During the 2nd World War, in the main, Jewish children in Buxton attended the normal primary and secondary schools, alongside local children. There were also births of Jewish children. One, Michael Dee (previous surname, Ben Yehuda
David), was born in Buxton in 1941. He went on to follow his father to become one of the directors of the Swizzels confectionary company in New Mills, which is famed for making ‘Love Hearts’ and ‘Parma Violets’.
The extent of Jewish community activity is shown by the following exert, from the Jewish Chronicle in 1941, about the founding of Buxton Jewish Youth Association. The number of people attending –about 100 – is surprisingly large, as is the venue – the Cheshire Cheese Hotel. Hotel? There was I thinking it was a pub, or at most an inn!
There were some interesting Jewish visitors to the town. Irene Weinberg’s parents rented a house called ‘Hollingwood’ at 24 Macclesfield Road. She remembers a visit from a young man called Vivian Herzog, who was stationed nearby in Matlock.
Vivian was later to become Chaim. In 1948 Chaim Herzog became the first president of the newly formed State of Israel. Chaim. In 1948 Chaim Herzog became the first president of the newly formed State of Israel.
The Jewish refugees in Buxton came from a number of different European countries, including Germany, Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, Holland and Belgium. They spoke various languages. Some could hardly speak any English when they first arrived. Being in Buxton must have been a strange experience for them. And their being here must have also been very odd for the local population.
Judith Usiskin arrived as an evacuee from Manchester, aged only 5 years old. Writing in 2022 she said, ‘What even I could recognise was that the grey/white streets of the town were crowded with a great mixture of people – taciturn Buxtonians and, in comparison to the grey atmosphere, crowds of foreigners – louder, more excitable, more colourful, it seemed to me.’
How were relations between these Jewish incomers and local people? Many of the Jewish people, who recount their experiences in Yvonne Chalker’s book, talk of how kind and generous many Buxtonians were towards them. According to Judith Usiskin, ‘I
When the war ended the evacuees returned to the cities they had come from. Most of the Jewish refugees from Europe also left Buxton, mainly to live in cities in this country, but some moved abroad.
By the mid to later 1940s, the Jewish community of Buxton had all but disappeared. It had all been a very temporary affair, almost a ‘pop up’ community, to deal with the horrors of the 2nd World War and the murderous anti-semitism that European Jews had faced.
In a recent talk, Netta Christie, Director of Discover Buxton and a local historian, said, ‘Many people consider Buxton an insular place, cut off and removed from the action of the world stage. Indeed, a place referred to by some historians as ‘sleepy hollow’, it has long been isolated by its geographic position. This is perhaps why, for many during the Second World War, Buxton became a place of safety and it opened its doors and hearts to many refugees and evacuees.’
In Netta’s words, Buxton became, ‘A Safe Haven in the Hills’, for both many Jews and non-Jews alike. She has put together an interesting and inspiring talk about this that can be found on You Tube. Details are given at the end of this chapter.
think some Buxtonians were extra welcoming to us because they realised what was happening to Jews in the rest of Europe. Maybe some were doubtful.’
Some locals were definitely not accepting. Judith also recalls that, when she was at school, other children attempted to crucify her in the playground, saying she was responsible for killing the Messiah. Other children used to follow her on the street and tell her to ‘go home to Palestine.’ Children can be cruel and insensitive but I think we can assume that some adult Buxtonians were not so welcoming of Jewish people either.
Sources
R. Bolton-King ‘History of Buxton College 1675-1970’ 1973
Y. Chalker ‘Buxtonians – A Hardy Breed’ 2015
In December 2021, Netta worked with the Association of Jewish Refugees to celebrate the organisations 80th anniversary. This involved planting a commemorative oak tree in Buxton’s Serpentine Walks - see the photo opposite.
This was one of the 80 trees planted across the country at locations that had provided support to Jewish refugees. The plaque next to our Buxton tree includes the words, ‘with thanks to all the people of Britain who helped Holocaust refugees.’ Yes, surely and securely, in Buxton.
N. Christie ‘Buxton - A Safe Haven in the Hills’. Talk on You Tube at - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqnASQ8FD_c
D. Roberts ‘Mr Mason’s Boys – German Jewish refugee boys at Buxton College in the 1930s’. Blog article at robertspublications. com
G. M. Weisgard ‘The Jewish Community of Buxton in the English Peak District’, 2022. Article on the Jewish Communities and Records website at jewishgen.org
In 1953, Buxton’s Opera House marked its fiftieth birthday. In the same year, I arrived in Buxton, starting a seventyyear association with the building. In the 1950s, I was an occasional visitor to films, pantomimes and amateur plays. One of these, Ivor Novello’s The Dancing Years, was to have a lasting influence – but more of that later. I was a frequent filmgoer until the late 1960s when my work took me away for the next decade. Back in Buxton, I started to take in some of the early Buxton Festival offerings, and followed the Opera House’s revival as a ‘receiving’ theatre. The 1990’s saw the start of the Gilbert and Sullivan Festival – always a personal favourite. In 2003, I became a front-of-house volunteer, something that I enjoyed for the next fourteen years.
V & A archives at Blythe House in Olympia to look through the original Frank Matcham & Co plans and large quantities of other documents. Out of this research came an awareness that many people were part of the story but they are rarely or never mentioned. Therefore, on this occasion, I decided to cast a spotlight onto some of these characters.
Central to the early days of the theatre was, of course, Frank Matcham. His first responsibility as ‘job architect’ was to design Oldway Mansion at Paington for Isaac Singer, of sewing machine fame. Singer wanted a small theatre in his mansion, and, although short-lived, was to influence the rest of Matcham’s career. Before Oldway had been completed Matcham went to work with Jethro T Robinson, London’s leading theatre designer in the 1870s. He soon became acutely aware of the prevailing issue of devastating theatre fires and the pioneering work of London’s first modern fire chief, Captain Eyre Massey Shaw. Matcham settled into his new life, marrying Robinson’s daughter, Maria, and then taking over the business when his father-in-law died suddenly in 1879. Thus started the firm of Frank Matcham & Co. Captain Shaw resolved
If this was not enough, I have been privileged to work on the building in a professional capacity on two occasions. The second of these, between 2005 and 2007, saw the replacement of the Gallery seating, installation of a getin lift backstage, and basic air conditioning. This took me into corners of the building, including the space above the ornate ceiling; the fly gallery - high above the stage, and even the roof, all places normally out of bounds to most. All of this increased my interest in the Opera House and its history. I started to take groups on tours around the theatre, as well as giving talks to interested local groups. The learning process was fascinating, taking me to the Theatre Museum, now part of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the offices of the Theatres Trust and the library of the Institution of Civil Engineers, where I found a large section devoted to theatre history, and particularly its technicalities and legislation. I also went through the rigorous process of getting into the
to address the problems of fires, generally caused by flimsy props and scenery, and the lack of any safety measure. A major fire at Exeter’s Royal Theatre in 1876 led to an investigation by Shaw, resulting in the first Entertainment Licence – still the ‘rule book’ for those designing or operating entertainment venues. Shaw is celebrated in the second part of Iolanthe – listen for ‘Oh Captain Shaw!’ Shaw’s influence can be seen at the Opera House both inside and outside the building. It is situated on a street corner, with plenty of short, wide exit routes. The audience and stage are separated by a fireproof curtain at the proscenium. Today, the curtain must be raised and lowered in front of the audience as proof that it works. Then, in the 1890s, gas started to give way to electricity – another improvement in safety.
What became clear from a study of Matcham’s plans was that they were the work of more than one draughtsman.
Despite an overall similarity, there are significant differences in the style of lettering. The sheets that show structural elements (the projecting balconies, etc.) were undoubtedly produced by Matcham’s structural engineer, Alexander Briggs. The other plans would have been produced by the project’s job architect, a Tasmanian called Francis Graham Moon Chancellor, who was to continue the
in the Northeast. It inspired him to look for an easy way to get people out of a building quickly without allowing unwanted people to get in. His solution was what we now refer to as a ‘panic bolt’. Often accompanied by the instruction ‘push bar to open’ its use is self-explanatory. Patented by Briggs and Matcham, when Briggs was in his early twenties, these bolts are to be seen in almost all public and institutional buildings.
business after Matcham’s retirement in 1912 and ultimately became executor (along with Felix de Jong) following his death in 1922. Matcham would have overseen the work but would be concentrating on the more prestigious London Coliseum, to be opened by King Edward VII in the same year. Felix de Jong, who was born in Antwerp, should be credited with the detailed design of the fibrous plaster decorations – the shells, cupids etc, that adorn the walls of the auditorium. For expediency, Matcham would have chosen existing designs from de Jong’s extensive pattern
The theatre opened on June 1st 1903 with an evening consisting of two plays performed by Miss Florence St John and Mr Scott Buist, both wellknown late Victorian actors. The first offering was Mrs Willoughby’s Kiss, a nod to the Willoughbys - father and son who managed the Pavilion Gardens and Opera House at the time. Miss St John also performed songs during the evening. What of the audience at that opening night? I’ve no doubt that the Dress Circle was occupied by the town’s great and good, as would the Dress Stalls, the first few rows of seats close to the stage. The posts that mark the divide between these and the wooden Stalls benches behind are still there as a reminder. The benches in the rest of the Stalls and in the Gallery would have been occupied by ordinary people hoping to be transported from what was often a humdrum existence. The social rules were quite draconian. Those of different classes had to be kept apart – they dressed differently, they spoke differently, and, as it has been said, they smelled differently! The rules also applied to entrances, wall finish, floor coverings, and toilets.
book. Before raising the curtain on the opening night, we shall return to Alexander Briggs. As a young man, he had been appalled to read of the deaths of more than a hundred children in a crush at a theatre in the Northeast. It inspired him to look for an easy way to get people out of a
The theatre opened on June 1st 1903 with an evening consisting of two plays performed by Miss Florence St John and Mr Scott Buist, both wellknown late Victorian actors. The first offering was Mrs Willoughby’s Kiss, a nod to the Willoughbys - father and son who managed the Pavilion Gardens and Opera House at the time. Miss St John also performed songs during the evening. What of the audience at that opening night? I’ve no doubt that the Dress Circle was occupied by the town’s great and good, as would the Dress Stalls, the first few rows of seats close to the stage. The posts that mark the divide between these and the wooden Stalls benches behind are still there as a reminder. The benches in the rest of the Stalls and in the Gallery would have been occupied by ordinary people hoping to be transported from what was often a humdrum existence. The social rules were quite draconian. Those of different classes had to be kept apart – they dressed differently, they spoke differently, and, as it has been said, they smelled differently! The rules also applied to entrances, wall finish, floor coverings, and toilets.
Women were given special treatment. They were not allowed into the bars, even if accompanied by a man. At first, there were two bars, at Dress Circle level and at the rear of the Stalls. Where you can now find the Upper Circle bar, there was a seated area. This was for women to sit and consume their drinks. In the ladies’ toilet next door, there is a dumb waiter which was used to send drinks up to the Upper Circle ladies’ as well as down to the ladies toilets at the Dress Circle landing level. The dumb waiter is no longer used for its original purpose, but at Upper Circle level, it is used as a convenient place for storing toilet rolls!
The Opera House was not granted a licence for alcoholic drinks until 1925. This was because theatres were still considered vulgar and it perhaps offers an explanation of why we have an ‘Opera House’ and not an everyday theatre. The theatre now known as the Pavilion Arts Centre opened in 1898. The chairman, Doctor Robertson, of the Buxton Improvements Company insisted that the word ‘theatre’ should not be used because of its vulgar connections, so it started life as ‘The Entertainment Stage’. Nevertheless, a theatre licence had to be obtained. A decade later, it was perhaps thought that an Opera House would be more fitting to a popular spa resort than a mere ‘theatre’. A few years later, the world was to change dramatically with the first mechanised war. However, social change had already started and the Opera House seemed to be in decline as soon as it had opened. The decline continued into the 1920s. In 1925, dancer Anna Pavlova was on the stage while the silent film star Mary Pickford was in the audience. To me, this symbolises the changing times – a few years later the building was converted into a cinema. At the start of the 1930s it was further converted to show the new ‘talkies’, and Pickford found herself side-lined. She reacted by directing films for others.
In 1937, Lillian Baylis was asked to arrange a festival of plays. She was well known as a feminist, fiercely independent and the owner of both the Old Vic and Saddlers Wells Ballet in London. The three-week Festival included Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Shaw’s Pygmalion and Ibsen’s Ghosts. On stage were up and coming stars from the Old Vic such as Alex Guinness, Anthony Quale, Andrew Cruickshank, Robert Morley and Sybil Thorndike. The Festival was a success but, sadly, Baylis died just a few weeks later. The Festival continued for several years until, by 1942, it had lost its popularity as wartime audiences looked for lighter entertainment. You can see a bronze plaque commemorating her life on the Dress Circle landing, right at the top of the stairs.
After the war, the Opera House settled down into a pattern that was to last for the next thirty years or so
and comprising mostly films with the annual panto and occasional musical or light operas. My own memories of this time include some of the Hollywood blockbusters of the fifies – Oklahoma, South Pacific, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and the Sound of Music. Wartime films, many based on real operations, were also a feature –Reach for the Sky, Ice Cold in Alex, the Dambusters,
and many others. The sixties saw more down to earth films – Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Psycho. One Buxton Opera Group production that sticks in my memory was Lionel Monkton’s The Arcadians. The seventies saw declining cinema audiences as television sets became more widespread – and in colour. The building suffered as cinema income dried up. By now, many amateur productions had been transferred to the Playhouse Theatre next door. (In 2010 transformed into the Pavilion Arts Centre).
When the Opera House finally closed its cinematic doors in 1976 local thespians stepped forward. In the forefront was June Dunleavy. Assisted by solicitor Michael Williams and championed by Cllr Margaret Millican and
Cllr Ray Walter they began to look at ways of taking over the building. It was at this point that they were joined by Malcolm Fraser (later Professor), lecturer in opera at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
On his very first visit to the town, he had seen the potential of the venues and surroundings to support a major Arts Festival. Despite some incredulity from several of the national dailies, Fraser, was proved right. The first Buxton Festival took to the stage in 1979, in a theatre that had just had the minimum repairs and improvements to meet the requirements. New carpet was woven to match an original scrap found in a box. The orchestra pit was enlarged and deepened, disturbing the spring that still flows and has sometimes resulted in
musicians wearing their wellies! After his death in 2012 a framed photograph of Malcolm, now Professor, was unveiled by Dame Janet Smith, Buxton Festival Chair. It is on the Dress Circle Landing, next to a photograph of Cllr Margaret Millican.
The 1980s saw the Opera House develop as a ‘receiving theatre’, which has no resident company but relies on receiving or attracting performers in an increasingly busy and competitive environment. It would take a long and boring article to list every performer since 1979. I can only single out my personal favourite – Stephane Grapelly, the violinist who first came to prominence accompanying jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt during the war years. Take your personal pick from the plethora of opera and ballet companies, tribute bands and bands, big bands and choirs. Did you sit through one of Ken Dodd’s marathons?
The Playhouse Theatre had initiated the idea of the establishment being supported by unpaid volunteers. It had all started when partners of those on stage made drinks in the interval. The idea was developed at the newly opened Opera House with a full complement of front of house and bar staff. In fact, the volunteers were an important part of the applications for grant funding. These dedicated people arrive at the theatre between
one and two hours before curtain up to check that all is well. This includes bar stocks, clear fire exit doors and general readiness. At its peak, the numbers have exceeded two hundred. Although generally retired the volunteers come from all walks of life, including younger people gaining work experience. The theatre just would not function without them.
Every story has its villain and ours is no exception. In the summer of 2013 it was found that a large sum of money had gone missing. The accountant, trusted with looking after the books had set up false suppliers and was transferring money to his own pocket via these accounts. Over fourteen months he stole nearly a quarter of a million pounds! He was subsequently dealt with by Derby Court and jailed. The long process of recovering some of the money started, generating substantial legal bills. His house and car could be sold, but a used Manchester United season ticket has little value!
was that an emergency reserve fund was needed. In 2022, when the world was effectively closed down by the pandemic, that accumulated reserve helped the Opera House through a difficult period. At the first lockdown, the doors closed and even the annual Festival was cancelled. The theatre was brought back to life gradually as the pandemic started to recede in the face of vaccinations. The building was turned red, along with many other theatres, in June 2020 in a desperate message to the government. Only one event took place during the time that should have been the 2020 Buxton Festival. It was on the Opera House forecourt and featured a string quartet drawn from the Festival pit orchestra, the Northern Chamber Orchestra. Nicholas Ward, its leader, has now retired after leading the pit orchestra for over 25 years.
What of the future? The Opera House was obviously built for a different era – and attitudes. Over the years, several changes have been made to suit prevailing conditions.
Smoking is now banned in the building and a designated staff smoking area, including a wall-mounted box for stubs, is next to the Water Street entrances to the Stalls and Gallery. In 2000 the wheelchair access was moved from the Water Street Stalls entrance to the other side of the building, with a narrow access passage created between the building and the conservatory. There are now three wheelchair spaces in the Stalls, two at the rear and one towards the front. The Stalls Ladies’ toilet was altered to achieve this as well as finding the space for a disabled toilet. The Gallery benches were replaced by theatre seats (with a back!) in 2007. At the same time a scissors lift was installed backstage to help with the task of getting stage equipment from Water Street level down to the stage, around three metres below. This replaced a dubious portable ramp that had previously been used. Some air-conditioning was also installed,
but a full system would have entailed taking large diameter pipework through the building to deliver the cooled air. This would have done little to enhance the ambiance and décor of the auditorium! In the event, the main unit was installed on the roof, in a well above the front of the stalls which had been allocated by Matcham for water tanks had they been needed – they were probably rendered unnecessary by the introduction of electric lighting and a reduced fire risk. The ducts were routed above the ornate ceiling to six outlets above the Gallery. Great care was needed above the ornate ceiling! Secondary ducts take the air to both sides of the apron (the projecting part of the stage in front of the proscenium. A small unit was installed behind the rear of the stage to cool the stage manager’s office.
To support the complex operations of a modern theatre offices were acquired across the road at The Square. Backstage facilities, however, have changed little in the past 120 years. Only three dressing rooms have a toilet –1 and 2, next to the stage and the most frequently used,
this works. The initial proposal was to replace the Gallery benches with seats replicating those at lower levels. The Theatre Trust asked that they should be a simpler design to reflect their lower status. Their advice was accepted – they were probably cheaper – and the upholstery was chosen to match the colour of the existing seats.
There is a perennial conflict between the owners of buildings and the conservation bodies. In many instances, it would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild with modern standards. This is currently happening with a theatre at Oldham. I think that my position is somewhere between the two extremes. It is clear to me that even a listed building must earn its keep in order to fund essential maintenance. A theatre is unique in its design – it is difficult to imagine alternative uses, except perhaps a cinema.
There have been times when alternative uses have been found. In the 1980s the Opera House was used occasionally for film and television. The Good Old Days and Hinge and Bracket attracted audiences that filled the theatre to capacity. A Christmas edition of Only Fools and Horses in 1986 saw the Trotter brothers sitting in the Stalls with Del being admonished by the conductor on stage for being disruptive. Around the same time, Lawrence Olivier and Colin Firth took part in Lost Empires, a film about the decline of theatres. All of these took advantage of the building’s unique selling point of the ornate auditorium. Other television companies have used just the stage, with its large uninterrupted space with the facilities for placing lights and scenery where they were required.
as well as the largest dressing room on the top floor, only used during shows with a large cast.
The Opera House is a building ‘listed’ as being of special architectural interest. With such a building, any changes are carefully scrutinised and severely limited. Every small improvement has to be sanctioned by the local authorities’ conservation officer, English Heritage and the Theatres Trust, who have a statutory right to be notified of planning applications involving theatres. The 2007 refurbishment provides one example of the way
Current proposals have highlighted the need to be able to attract modern productions with their modern technical needs. The work proposed includes improvements to the process of ‘flying’ scenery, replacing most of the existing hemp ropes with more modern materials. More back stage support space might be obtained by building up between the stages of both the Opera House and Pavilion Arts Centre. This would be above the Pavilion Gardens restaurant kitchens, and echoes a proposal in the mid-nineties to build at the rear of the stage above a space occupied by the Pavilion Gardens toilets. The fire escape staircase from the dressing room area was realigned in preparation but the work didn’t materialise.
It has been suggested that a level stage would attract more performers, but it would be difficult and upset the sight lines so carefully worked out by Matcham and his team. The stage slopes forwards at a rake of 1 in 24, similar to the opposing rake in the stalls.
A similar extension to that proposed was built at Belfast’s Opera House a few years ago, but this was positioned to include front of house entrance and circulation space. Another, bold and expensive, possibility might be to build under the forecourt. This has been done successfully at London’s Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall At the start of this account, I mentioned the effect that The Dancing Years had had on my life. It was set in the Tyrol and explored the tensions in Austria in the years before the Nazi takeover in 1938 – a theme later used in The Sound of Music. It sparked my interest in Austria, and particularly its culture and music, leading to a visit to Innsbruck with a Derbyshire Youth Service group in 1961. Three decades later the Vienna Boys’ Choir visited the Opera House on two occasions, and through their visits, I learned of the Anglo Austrian Society, based in London but dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between the people of the two countries. I soon became a member and a few years later became a director and trustee. My proposal that we sponsor Austrian items at musical festivals in the UK was accepted, and after looking at numerous events, we settled on the Buxton Festival as the most appropriate. Over five years between 2008 and 2012, the sponsorship resulted in thousands of pounds going towards operas, recitals and talks at the Opera House and other venues.
An Opera House has been described as somewhere that you can experience the best entertainment, both comedy and drama; the best music, and the best surroundings. Buxton Opera House fully meets this anonymous definition. What will be your lasting memories of Buxton’s Opera House?
Guide to British Theatres, Earl & Sell, Theatre Trust, S & C Black, London, 2000
The Buxton Stage, Colin Wells, Millrace, Disley, 1998 Theatre in the Hills, Ros McCoola, Caron Publications, Chapel en le Frith, 1984/1993
Frank Matcham & Co, edit David Wilmore, Theatreshire Books, Dacre, 2008
Frank Matcham, Theatre Architect, edit Brian Walker, Blackstage Press, 1980
Buxton – an English Festival, Michael Kennedy, published by Buxton Festival, 2004
COPYRIGHT
Text copyright Trevor Gilman 2023
The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The Institution of Civil Engineers’ Library, London
The Theatres Trust, London
The Daily Mail, online edition
Colin Wells
Frances Allen, for her patience!
The early postcard haS been deemed to be in the public domain due to publication in the early years of the 20th century.
The Grand Opera House Belfast photograph is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International - https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Opera_House,_Belfast#/ media/File:The_Grand_Opera_House_Belfast.jpg
The remaining photographs copyright Trevor Gilman 2023, taken with the permission of the Opera House management.
How do we best protect Buxton’s Swift population?
Simon Fussell & Lindsey WakefieldSwifts (Apus apus) are almost entirely dependent on the built environment for nesting, captivating observers with their acrobatic flight and distinctive calls as they share our towns and cities for just three months of the year. Arrival in the UK in May to breed follows a migration from Africa of between 7000 and 11000km, but fewer than 60,000 pairs now return, their population having declined by 60% between 1995 and 2020, warranting a red-listed conservation status.
Causes of decline include
• Reductions in insect abundance and availability
• Changing weather patterns
• Loss of nest sites due to building modifications and restoration
Swifts survive on a diet of airborne insects, comprised of over 500 species. The decline in insect abundance, distribution, and availability is frequently cited as a significant contributor to the decrease in Swift populations and breeding success. Factors such as
in the tower of the Oxford Museum of Natural History links variation in numbers of fledged young to prevailing weather conditions. During the breeding season, Swifts fly up to 100km to forage, exploiting thermals which accumulate aphids and hoverflies, an adaptation that allows mitigation for mass insect decline.
Loss of nest sites is viewed by many as the most significant factor in Swift decline in the UK, and is certainly the factor most easily addressed in the short term by conservation measures.
Gaps of just a few centimetres in buildings can be used by Swifts to access small nesting spaces, but modern roofing methods, upgrades to buildings to improve insulation and new builds exclude Swifts since buildings are sealed. The small entrances required by swifts may not adversely affect a building, and Swifts make little or no mess when nesting, but unless identified and protected the sites are likely to be lost through building maintenance and roofing work including insulation and addition of soffits.
Nests can be found in the following locations within a building:
• Eaves – in open eaves just inside the roof space or under the bottom row of tiles
• Holes – where pointing is missing, in voids behind masonry
• Inside gables – behind barge boards, on brick ends
• Under tiles – on the roof timbers or felt
• Behind flashings – on brick ends or in holes on chimneys and skylights
disrupted weather patterns, pesticide use, chemical pollution, and habitat fragmentation have adversely affected insect numbers. A Buglife study of car number plates found a 64% decline of insects in the UK since 2004.
A recent British Trust for Ornithology study associates nest failure and smaller brood sizes with wetter summers which reduce foraging opportunities and aphid biomass, whilst not finding a direct link between swift decline and aphid abundance per se. Similarly, the long running study
A Swift’s typical lifespan is 9 years, breeding from 4 years old. Swifts exhibit fidelity to their nest sites, so the loss of a site can result in a lost breeding season (and even death of birds as they repeatedly attempt to enter an inaccessible nest). Comprehending the key factors in nest site selection is vital for conservation efforts.
Throughout the UK, volunteer Swift groups work to locate and protect nest sites, locally forming sub groups of the Derbyshire Swift Conservation Project. It is only though good local knowledge that communities can be informed of the importance of their buildings as nest locations, and effective efforts made to protect and increase nest sites. Derbyshire Swift Conservation collates all nest data for the county, making it accessible
to local authorities and available to inform planning decisions.
Whilst a screaming party of Swifts rushing between buildings is unmissable, nest locations can be difficult to find since there is little outward evidence and birds can enter at speed and varying intervals. In Buxton, coordinated nest survey work began in 2022, with 50 nests located during the breeding season, highlighting the importance as a breeding area. Nests are usually in small groups in a terrace or area of a street, with the largest recorded colony at Rockbank, Harpur Hill where at least 10 entrances in the eaves of one terrace were identified. Important areas for nesting also include Haslin Road, Kents Bank and Crowestones, Compton Road, Market Street, Hartington Road, Hogshaw Villas, Victoria Park Road , New High Street and Dukes Drive viaduct.
Surveys continue this year, to locate sites not covered in 2022, and revisiting sites to compare data. Several visits to each location are required to locate all nests, evening often being the best time to see swifts entering.
Locations of Swift nests on Kents Bank, Compton Rd, Market St. and Haslin Rd. 2022
The point of entry is recorded, along with details of access, height above ground, aspect, building type and potential obstructions such as overhanging trees. At the end of the breeding season, locations are mapped with linked photos showing entry points. Other nesting species are also recorded, with House Sparrows often occupying the same eaves as Swifts.
boxed eaves can be converted to nest chambers, and open eaves nests can be formalised by adding a partition within the loft.
At present in Buxton, specially designed Swift nest boxes are the most accessible option to mitigate loss of sites within buildings, but uptake by Swifts can be slow. There are a number of nest boxes for Swifts on properties in Buxton: the locations are recorded as part of the survey work and Swift activity noted, although currently we are not aware of any active nests within boxes.
In Buxton, the majority of Swift nests are in late 19th or early 20th Century dwellings, ranging from terraced cottages to 3 storey semi and detached properties, with a colony also nesting in the late 19th century viaduct on Dukes Drive. The only nests so far known in post war buildings are in the Ecclesbourne Drive/Errwood Avenue area. Within a property type, there appear to be preferences, for example entrances above the centre of several windows on Haslin Road terrace, or nests accessed in the apexes of properties on Compton Road. Aspect can be important, and whilst there is no single preferred direction, southerly facing sites seem to be avoided, presumably due to the risk of nests overheating. Most located nests are in or under the eaves, with some examples of nests in holes between masonry such as Dukes Drive Viaduct. Heights of nests in dwellings range from 4.5m on Lightwood Road, and 5m at Rockbank (although the terrace is in an elevated position) to 9.5m at Compton Road, with nests on Dukes Drive up to 25m high.
Targeted advice can be offered to residents prior to work taking place when locations of nests have been identified. Where nest sites are at risk from additions of soffits, making holes in the new soffits is preferable to installing nest boxes. Plastic soffits can be fitted with internal partitions, with access through small entrance holes drilled on the underside. Timber, metal or plastic
The lack of uptake so far in Buxton should not deter: there are examples of successful uptake of boxes in Derbyshire on a variety of property types, both as compensatory installations and new sites. Nest surveys inform decisions on the siting of nest boxes which are more likely to be occupied if located close to areas with active nests, mimicking exiting nests sites as closely as possible, and ensuring a clear flight path to the entrance. Young birds return to the UK and start to seek out nest sites in their pre-breeding seasons, and it is these birds which are most likely to use ‘new’ nest sites. A call system played morning and evening during May and July can speed up occupation considerably. BCA has previously funded a number of boxes, and future funding can be best targeted with increased understanding of existing nest sites.
Swift Conservation’s recommended good practice for renovating buildings and for new builds:
1. Wherever possible, leave existing nest places undisturbed.
2. When fitting new soffits over existing nests, make holes in the same locations.
3. Fit universal nest bricks in all new builds 5m or higher.
4. If 1-3 are not possible, fit external nest boxes.
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides legal protection for wild birds and their eggs, making it illegal to intentionally damage or destroy nests, but this legislation only covers active nests during the breeding season (nest sites do not have continuous protection), and there is often poor awareness of hidden Swift nests or guidance may be ignored.
Strengthening legislation would likely be of significant benefit to Swifts, particularly through requirements in planning policy for the inclusion of universal nest bricks in new build properties, and year round protection of nest sites.
Universal nest bricks are hollow structures which allow nesting chambers to be integrated within buildings. They can be matched externally to building materials or rendered over, with just the small entrance holes discernable. They are described as ‘universal’ since they attract a number of bird species including several which are Red Listed (House Sparrow, Starling and House Martin in addition to Swift) and therefore remove the need for multiple nest box types.
The Swifts Local Network recently produced a paper which advocates the benefits of integrated universal nest bricks compared to external nest boxes:
• longer lasting, low maintenance and low cost (around £30 per unit)
• better temperature regulation, so can be sited on any aspect of a building
• nests are isolated from interior of building
• discrete since they are integrated into building
• higher and quicker uptake by Swifts
• used by other Red Listed bird species
There is huge potential in the UK to increase nest sites with a target of 300,000 new homes per year. National Policy guidance appears to already support universal nest bricks through various documents and statements, but inclusion in new builds is not mandatory:
Government Guidance – Natural Environment, updated July 2019, states that:
‘Relatively small features can often achieve important benefits for wildlife, such as incorporating ‘Swift bricks’ ….... in developments’
National Planning Policy Framework 2019
170. Planning policies and decisions should contribute to and enhance the natural and local environment by:
d) minimising impacts on and providing net gains for biodiversity, including by establishing coherent ecological networks that are more resilient to current and future pressures;
174. To protect and enhance biodiversity and geodiversity, plans should:
b) promote the conservation, restoration and enhancement of priority habitats, ecological networks and the protection and recovery of priority species; and identify and pursue opportunities for securing measurable net gains for biodiversity.
Government press release – Brokenshire orders house builders to protect wildlife (July 2019)
- Swifts and other wildlife to coexist with new homes
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 contains a statutory duty:
‘Every public authority must, in exercising its functions, have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity’
Certain councils and developers have already committed through policy to Swift conservation, but despite campaigner Hannah Bourne’s Feather Speech
petition gaining over 100,000 signatures in support of mandatory nest bricks and triggering a debate in parliament, government remains uncommitted to national planning policy to protect swifts.
Examples of good practice in UK and EU Brighton and Hove City Council’s (BHCC) Local Biodiversity Action Plan 2012 identified Swifts as one of 20 species (from the UK BAP priority species list) that have specialist requirements that cannot be addressed through habitat action plans. To protect Swift nest sites from building maintenance, BHCC produced material on their needs and ecology for householders and developers. In March 2020, BHCC passed planning rules that require new developments to contain a minimum of 3 nest bricks per dwelling, and new commercial developments must have one nest brick per 50sq m of floor space. The rule applies to all new buildings above 5m high, and is attached to all planning permissions.
Nest bricks in Brighton General Hospital buildings have 80% occupancy, and represent successful protection of one of the largest Swift colonies in the south of England, through retrofitting during required maintenance.
1000 nest bricks have been built into Duchy of Cornwall housing schemes, with commitment to install 2500 bricks across future developments. In 2022, around 40% of nest boxes were occupied, mainly by House Sparrows, Starlings and House Martins. While Swifts are yet to occupy, they have been seen prospecting around nest bricks, and there is evidence that the calls of House Sparrows can attract Swifts.
In Germany, The Netherlands and Slovakia, the nest sites of Swifts are protected year round. New nest sites must be created to mitigate for any losses during renovation or reconstruction works.
The main aim of the LIFE10 NAT/SK/00079 project (2012-2015) was to halt recent declines in Swifts and Noctule Bats in urban areas of Slovakia where a high proportion of nest sites were in prefabricated buildings requiring upgrading. The project focused on raising awareness among stakeholders, preserving existing nesting and roosting sites, implementing conservation methods to protect species during reconstruction work, and installing nesting boxes for Swifts on buildings.
2400 Swift boxes were installed across 400 sites, and 14,000 existing sites for the two species were preserved through installation of plastic grids over ventilation holes allowing continued access. Legislation mandated surveys to identify nest sites in buildings undergoing renovation or retrofitting. Amendments to the Act on Nature and Landscape Protection gave additional protection to species in buildings.
Engaging with organisations & communities
20 years ago, at the request of the RSPB, Swift Conservation was launched by Edward Mayer who has pioneered the approach of inspiring to protect Swifts through advice, talks and coordinated volunteer action, later extending the project to cover Europe. Training sessions are delivered to organisations, and advice provided for specific projects.
Action for Swifts is headed by Dick Newell, who has applied his experience as an engineer and software designer to the problem of Swift decline, including the development of the integrated S Brick.
Both groups support and facilitate the Swift Local Network, and there are now over 100 local Swift groups across the UK. Each year in June or July, Swift Awareness Week raises the profile of Swifts in local communities through events and showcasing the work of groups.
The RSPB describes Swifts as ‘one of the best examples of a bird species where positive conservation action can be driven by dedicated individuals and volunteers’.
There is scope in Buxton to improve community engagement through celebrations of Swifts, and to further converse with the fortunate residents who host swifts within their dwellings. We cannot expect protection of Swifts if they are misunderstood or unnoticed.
In Macclesfield, a mural by artist Peachzz celebrates both Swifts and the work of Charles Tunnicliffe, in prominent position on the railway station lift tower. Large Swift puppets swoop above the carnival in Sheffield, ceated by artist Patrick Amber and Sheffield Swift Network. Interest has been expressed by schools in Buxton to a Swift prelude to Wild Weeks: inspired by Amber’s work, a large Swift puppet would travel around primary schools on ‘migration’, progressively constructed by different groups, Signs to denote ‘Swift Streets’, and banners to ‘Welcome Back Swifts’ in May at the entrances to town would create a feeling of pride and connectedness, and spark interest and engagement.
To achieve long term population stability, factors contributing to the decline of Swifts, such as insect prey availability and climate change, must be addressed. However, at a local level, surveys are key to protecting existing nest sites, and informing the siting of nest boxes and bricks. Maximising the potential of mitigation measures requires local and national legislation. but communities are often central to the protection of Swifts, and engagement and celebration at a local level are important factors in the conservation of this remarkable bird. Swifts have shared our buildings and our summers for centuries so to lose their daredevil acrobatics and their screams as they navigate our streets and the skies above is unthinkable. We can and must commit to saving them, and it starts with each one of us taking action.
Action for Swifts The S Brick: A Solution for Swifts Accessed 10/7/23 https://www.actionforswifts.com/#:~:text=The%20 S%20Brick%20is%20a,simple%20and%20lightweight%20S%20 Brick.
Barlow C, Priaulx M (2022) Swifts Local Network – Swift Bricks the ‘universal’ nest brick
Brighton & Hove City Council Planning Policy and Development Managment Teams (2020) Guidance note for provision of swift boxes (including swift bricks) in new development
British Trust for Ornithology Birdfacts: Swift. Accessed 10/7/23 https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/swift
Finch T, Bell J R, Robinson R A and Peach W J (2022) Demography of Common Swifts Apus apus breeding in the UK associated with local weather but not aphid biomass.
Mayer E (2018) Swift Conservation: Swift Nest Places in Soffits and Eaves.
Nansledan (2023) Duchy nest box boost for endangered wild birds. Accessed 10/7/23 https://nansledan.com/duchy-nestbox-boost-for-endangered-wild-birds/
Overall R (2010) Guardian of the Swifts in the Tower of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
Regional Association for Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development (2012-2015) Project LIFE10/NAT/ SK/000079 Protection of the Common Swift and bats in buildings in Slovakia, Layman’s Report
Scottish Natural Heritage Swift Best Practice Advice Note Sheffield Swift Network Make ‘Swift Bricks’ mandatory for all new build and extensions in Sheffield
Common Swift (Apus apus) flying to the nest photograph is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Common_Swift_ Apus_apus.jpg
communications@buxtoncivicassociation.org.uk
To lose the glass roof from an historic railway station might be considered unfortunate, but to also lose that building’s twin entirely could be described as, in a paraphrase of Lady Bracknell, carelessness.
That was the fate of Buxton’s magnificent double stations, one opened by the Midland Railway to link up with Derby on 1 June 1863, adjacent to its twin serving the Stockport line which opened just two weeks later, a feat of timetabling some modern train companies might find hard to match these days with rolling stock, let alone major engineering works.
The Midland station closed on 6 March 1967, and was demolished with the land used for the Spring Gardens bypass. The remaining station lost its glass roof soon after, despite being designed, along with the fan window common to both, by Jospeh Paxton, who built the Crystal Palace.
Hopefully none of this would have been allowed today. Or would it?
It’s a lesson in conservation which Buxton needs to remember as questions remain over the future use of the Devonshire Dome now that the University of Derby has withdrawn higher education students from its campus, leaving it to rely on Buxton and Leek College and wedding celebrations for the income needed to keep such an expensive historic building in perfect condition.
Future historians might look back at Buxton as being somewhat profligate with its embarrassment of architectural riches, from the loss of two stations which would have been a world-famous tourist attraction, to the Crescent being built on top of Aquae Arnemetia’s Roman baths.
Fighting for this heritage is why the BCA was originally formed in 1967, and although the organisation has grown into much, much more, its work as a guardian of the town’s heritage remains at the heart of its reason for existence.
