"Two Harpsicalls with frames."

"A great picture over the Chimney."

"Two Couches with silver and coloured leather."

"Twenty backe Chaires of ye same, all Covered with Blew

1668. A list of silver plate at Haddon includes a Communion boule & cover."

Haddon Hall was completely furnished so late as 1730, but the latest reference to the occupation by any of the family in the Stewards' Accounts occurs in 1702; the Steward of the Duke of Rutland's Haddon estates, however, resided at Haddon for some years after that date.

ST. ANNE'S CHURCH, BUXTON.

BY THE REV. J. THWAITES MUMFORD, M.A.

(Contributed to the Buxton Congress, July 22nd, 1899.)

ERHAPS it will be convenient to give, first of all, a few dates and facts relating to the present building of St. Anne's Church.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the waters of Buxton were as popular as ever they had been in the past, and people were flocking in great numbers to the wells and baths. At that time there was no spiritual accommodation for them, and in consequence the neighbouring church of Fairfield, then a chapel attached to Hope, became overcrowded. Accordingly, what Glover describes in his History of Derbyshire as a very mean building," the present church of St. Anne, was built in 1625.

66

The material used throughout was the local limestone, with the exception of the mullions, sills, etc., of the windows, which were of millstone grit, probably from the Roaches near Leek.

It was probably nothing more than a rectangular building, i.e., the present nave of the church. In 1715 a small vestry was added at the south-east, and in 1841 the porch on the north-west side was built.

It would seem that this church served for the spiritual necessities of the inhabitants of, and visitors to, Buxton for upwards of a century and a half, until 1798, when a petition was presented to Quarter Sessions praying that a brief might be granted for obtaining funds for a larger building. Accordingly, what is now the parish church was built on the other side of Buxton in 1811.

It may be interesting to note that the population of Buxton in 1821 was 1,036. The effect of this, of course, was to close St. Anne's, and the fabric began to fall into decay. But in 1841 the Duke of Devonshire restored the church, and service was regularly held in it again during the incumbency of the then vicar of BuxtonRev. W. Hull-Brown. After that the church saw many vicissitudes. Divine service was discontinued; it became a day school, then a Sunday school, then a mortuary chapel; and finally was closed altogether, only to be opened as a show place at the request of a passing visitor.

At length, during the vicariate of the Rev. W. Malam, St. Anne's was put into thorough repair, at the wish and by the generous help of certain parishioners and friends, and was given over to the Rev. W. Lear to be worked henceforth as a sole charge. Under his earnest ministrations, the little church rapidly became a centre of worship, and acquired a reputation among visitors who flocked to it during their sojourn in Buxton, which it has always held since. In 1894 the vestry was enlarged to its present proportions.

The building itself is oblong in shape, 56 ft. 2 ins. long by 20 ft. 4 ins. wide. The roof is an open one, with five large trusses of black oak, roughly shaped with the adze, across from side to side. The windows are square-headed. The font is somewhat unusual in shape: on its east side may be seen the date 1625, on the west the initials T. Y., on the north the Greek character 2, and on the south a shield charged with a saltire. The reading-desk and two ancient chairs are made from old oak, procured from Wormhill. In 1898 the graveyard, which had been used continuously since 1625, was closed by an order in Council.

Such is a brief history of the present church of St. Anne. I say "present" because, interesting as the immediate past of the church has been, this church, small as it is, has a magnificent record behind it. It forms the last of a series of chapels in Buxton which reach back most probably to the time of the Romans, prior to the introduction of Christianity.

The vicar of Hartington (Rev. W. Fyldes), who has

made the past history of Buxton his special study, believes that a Roman altar stood in close proximity to the well of St. Anne; and it is a known fact that the Romans knew of, and duly appreciated, the healing properties of the Buxton waters. But the spread of Christianity would give a different complexion to popular religion, and very soon a small Christian chapel would doubtless be erected, chiefly for the benefit and use of the visiting sick people. This "well-chapel" would be served two or three times a week by a priest sent from the neighbouring church of Chelmorton, or more possibly from the collegiate church of Bakewell.

Little of historical matter of any value can be found before the sixteenth century, owing to the subordinate position of the chapel of St. Anne and its lack of endowment, etc. Most probably, Archbishop Peckham would find the church standing in his day, when making his visitation in 1280, but would not think it worth while to make any mention of it, owing to the above reason. Therefore, it is not surprising that the earliest historical allusion to St. Anne's is that made by the Commissioners of Henry VIII, in connection with the church at Bakewell, in the following words, and expressed in such a way :

Capella de Bukstones in p'ochia de Bakewell. In oblationibus ibidem ad Sanctam Annam coram nobis dictis commissionariis non patet."

Subsequent history of the church has the same sad tale to tell a tale that is familiar to all archæological students of church architecture-of misplaced zeal and fanatical iconoclasm. Even the name of St. Anne's was changed to that of St. John, in order (apparently) to avoid all opportunity of superstition. The writer is thankful to say that the old dedication has been brought back into use through the practical sympathy of the Lord Bishop of the diocese.

An interesting letter of this melancholy period is extant, written by one William Bassett, knight, to Lord Cromwell, and the direct result was that the church then standing on the site of the present Town Hall was

1900

11

entirely demolished. For half a century Buxton was without any centre of worship, until the building of the present church in 1625.

One question remains, and that a most important one. Why was this church built in such meagre dimensions? The most crowded congregation, packed together as far as human ingenuity can effect, can only amount to two hundred souls. There is, no doubt, some reason for the structure being so small.

The writer had a theory, by no means original, that the materials used for this building in 1625 came, for the most part, from those that had formed part of the former church, demolished fifty years before. And this theory was strengthened by the age and appearance of the rough oak tie-beams, and the crude way in which they enter

the walls.

The former church would partake more of the nature of a well-chapel, intended for few worshippers at a time, than in accordance with the modern idea of a building to accommodate a congregation. It seemed, therefore, ingenious to suppose that the builders of 1625 used up old material, and cut their coat according to their cloth. It is, however, but a theory, for a timber roof of that period would be quite in accordance with that described above; and the roof of the present St. Anne's is what is often called a "carpenter's roof," and therefore evidently the builder was his own architect. It is impossible, however, to entirely relinquish the theory, without at the same time suggesting that, in 1625, some traces of the old St. Anne's were still to be found, or that a ground-plan of the building was extant, and that the erectors of the new edifice wished to preserve as far as possible that continuity in building and form which is to be found in so many ecclesiastical structures: a good and striking illustration of the inner life and continuity which is at once the reality and charm of the English Church to which we belong. And while on this subject, it is interesting to point out the use which St. Anne's church. serves still, after the manner of its predecessors.

The visitors and others who throng the little church, on Sundays and weekdays alike, are the direct successors