Buxton, Norfolk

Buxton is a village in the parish of Buxton with Lamas, in the Broadland district of the county of Norfolk, England. It is located between Norwich and Aylsham, and is separated from Lamas by the River Bure. In 2021, it had a population of 1,295.

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.

St. Andrew's Church
Buxton's parish church is of Norman construct and is dedicated to Saint Andrew. It was significantly remodelled in the nineteenth century with new stained glass being installed by Charles Edmund Clutterbuck, Thomas Willement and Ward and Hughes; however, many of the corbels date from the fourteenth century.

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

 * Thomas Cubitt – British builder and architect
 * Anna Sewell – English novelist and author of Black Beauty

War memorial
Buxton War Memorial takes the form of a Celtic cross and is located in St. Andrew's Churchyard. It lists the following names for the First World War:
 * Corporal Albert E. Earl (d.1917), 7th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Corporal Arthur Goodson (d.1917), 9th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Lance-Corporal Thomas J. Smith (d.1917), 1/5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Private Cyril Betts (1895–1914), 1/8th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
 * Private Benjamin D. Smith (1891–1916), 5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles
 * Private Horace Woodhouse (1900–1918), 4th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
 * Private Edward F. Sword (d.1917), 17th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
 * Private Albert H. Thirtle (1899–1918), 1st Battalion, Hertfordshire Regiment
 * Private Harry Barton (1885–1918), 101st Company, Labour Corps
 * Private John A. Abbs (1899–1918), 10th Battalion, Lancashire Regiment
 * Private George W. Kerrison (d.1916), 1st Battalion, Middlesex Regiment
 * Private Robert Clarke (d.1917), 1st Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Private George H. Goffin (1880–1920), 3rd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Private Herbert E. Lane (d.1918), 8th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
 * Private Albert L. Cook (1895–1917), 1st Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment
 * Private Bertie C. Child (d.1918), 1/5th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
 * Private William F. Norgate (1891–1917), 1/5th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
 * Private Redcar G. Matthews (d.1917), 5th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
 * Private Cyril B. Tucker (d.1916), 5th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
 * Private Albert E. Wodehouse (1893–1916), 1/6th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
 * Worker Mary M. Matthews (1891–1919), Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps