Buxton is a village in the parish of Buxton with Lamas in the English county of Norfolk. Buxton is located 3.6 mi south-east of Aylsham and 9.2 mi north of Norwich.

History

Buxton is of Anglo-Saxon and Viking origin; it derives from an amalgamation of Old English and Old Norse for a settlement, either named for 'Bucca' or deer. In the Domesday Book, Buxton was recorded as a settlement of 34 households in the hundred of South Erpingham. The principal landowner was Ralph de Beaufour. In 1931, the parish had a population of 490. On 1 April 1935, the parish was abolished to form Buxton with Lamas. Buxton Watermill has stood in the village in some form since before the Domesday Book and was last rebuilt in 1754 by the local merchant, William Pepper. Nearby Dudwick Park is listed building and was built for John Wright, a Quaker banker, in the eighteenth century. Wright's charitable donations to the village resulted in the construction of what is now Buxton Primary School and an institution for young offenders, where the Rowan House currently stands. By the nineteenth century, Dudwick Park had passed to the Sewell family, another Quaker family, who further extended the village school; in 1927, they funded the construction of the village hall. In 1937, the house was passed to Percy Briscoe, a tea-planter from Ceylon, who significantly remodeled the exterior. The village was home to a workhouse during the eighteenth century due to the provisions of the English Poor Laws. The foundations of the building still exist on the Buxton-Horstead road.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Buxton, including Lamas, has a population of 1,642 people which shows a slight decrease from the 1,684 people recorded in the 2011 census. Buxton is separated from Lamas by the River Bure.

St. Andrew's Church

Buxton's parish church is dedicated to Saint Andrew and dates to the Fourteenth Century. St. Andrew's church is located at the junction between Aylsham Road and Mill Street and has been Grade II listed since 1961. The church was significantly remodelled in the 1850s with stained-glass depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion and the Ascension designed by Charles Clutterbuck as well as depictions of the Good Samaritan and the Raising of Lazarus by Thomas Willement and other works by Ward and Hughes. A new bell that commemorates the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II was hoisted in April 2023. It is the only one in the United Kingdom that carries the Queen's Platinum Jubilee dedication.

Transport

Buxton Lamas railway station was opened in July 1879 by the Great Eastern Railway, which connected the village to Aylsham, Coltishall and beyond. It was closed to passengers in September 1952 and then to freight in April 1965. The Bure Valley Railway now runs a heritage miniature line through the village. A new station, Buxton railway station, provides services to Wroxham and Aylsham. Bus routes that serve Buxton are operated by Sanders Coaches, Our Bus and Feline Executive Travel. Destinations include Norwich, Aylsham, Wroxham and North Walsham.

Notable Residents

Governance

Buxton is an electoral ward for local elections and is part of the district of Broadland. The village's national constituency is Broadland and Fakenham which has been represented by the Conservative Party's Jerome Mayhew MP since 2019.

War Memorial

Buxton's war memorial is a stone Celtic cross located in St. Andrew's Churchyard which has been Grade II listed since 2017 and is shared with Lamas. The following men from Buxton fell during the First World War: