Buxton is the centre of the Peak District, sitting in a bowl surrounded by mountains, the highest market town in England at 1,000 feet above sea level. In the county of Derbyshire, it was developed by the Romans who named it Aqua Arnimentiae – translated as ‘The Waters of the Goddess Of The Grove’. Many Roman coins were unearthed in the Crescent area close to the spring in 1975, indicating it was an important settlement and trading town during the Roman occupation of Britain.
Buxton is a Spa town, meaning it has a constant natural flow of mineral water rising through the bedrock and emerging at a natural spring. Buxton is built on the boundary of the lower carboniferous limestone and the upper carboniferous shale, a mixture of sandstone and gritstone. Thousands of years ago, rain fell onto the rock and traveled nearly a mile down towards the centre of the earth. It is filtered naturally through the bedrock, acquiring minerals on its way. Eventually the water reaches a fault in the rock strata and is slowly forced back upwards to the surface where it emerges as a spring. You will notice the water temperature as it flows from the spring, feeling warm in the winter and cool in the summer, but in reality it is a constant temperature all year round, having been heated by the earth's mantle as it continued it's journey through the earth.
The water was believed to have therapeutic properties due to its high mineral content, supposedly healing both rheumatism and gout. The Baths in the Crescent were a popular place to visit for many, and were even available on the national health service! Mary Queen Of Scots bathed numerous times to help her rheumatism.
The natural spa water can be collected freely in the Crescent in the centre of Buxton at St. Anne’s Well – take you own bottles. Or you can buy it in the shops ready bottled – the bottling plant is now at Peak Dale close to Buxton.
Questions:
1. What temperature is the spring water constantly flowing from the ground?
2. How old is the water as it rises from the ground?
3. What is a geothermal spring?
4. What type of stone does the water flow through before it surfaces?
5. On St. Anne's Well there is a tribute to who?
Answers emailed to me at the address on my profile please. A photo of yourself drinking from St Anne’s Well or a GPS photo if you prefer at the well would be nice but not a requirement.
WHILST THE WELLS DRESSING IS IN PLACE AND NO.5 IS COVERED, TELL ME WHO/WHAT THE WELL IS DEDICATED TO INSTEAD
http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_goddess/british_goddesses.asp