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About
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The History of Tennis in Buxton
In
1880 the Buxton Gardens hosted a tennis tournament
for visitors which, by 1883, was attracting
so many entries that in 1884 the proprietors
of the Gardens, the Buxton Improvements Company,
decided to run a proper open tournament with
ladies and gentlemen's singles played
under the title 'Championship of Derbyshire' and
a ladies doubles played with the imposing title
of 'The All-England Ladies Doubles'.
This latter championship was the first of its
kind, being inaugurated before Wimbledon, or
anyone else, could appropriate this title and
it was played under this name until the tournament
ceased in the 1950's. At a later stage
gentlemen's doubles, mixed doubles and
handicap events were introduced but it was
the championship events that were the backbone
of the tournament.
In
1889 the Buxton Guide advertises the availability
of both grass and gravel courts in the Gardens
and the photograph below, taken by the famous
Victorian photographer Francis Frith, shows
ladies playing on the lower courts at the end
of the promenade.
A
Buxton Advertiser of October 1900 reports that "the
Buxton Gardens outdoor staff are busy re-laying
the Tournament Lawn,
the sods being taken off and the grass replaced
over levelled layers of clinker, lime and ashes".
The newspaper notes that the half already done "looks
very well". During the Edwardian period the 1912 Buxton Tournament winners
had prizes presented by Field Marshall Lord
Roberts, a figure of national importance.
Tournaments
resumed in 1919 after the First World War and
the 1920's saw a considerable increase
in the local facilities. In 1920 the Buxton
Corporation bought the Ashwood Park Hotel along
with the grounds and during the next few years
developed the park with bowling greens, putting
green and four hard tennis courts.
In
1927 Buxton Corporation bought out the Buxton
Gardens Company and took over the running of
the facilities and grounds. During this period
several of the larger private houses had their
own tennis courts and the 1928 Ward Lock Buxton
Guide lists a private club on Green Lane at
the junction with Robertson Road. It is understood
that the members of this club moved to Pavilion
Gardens to form the Palace Club. The site of
the former roller skating and curling rink
at the Burlington Road end of the promenade
was made into a pair of hard courts and the
three lower courts were converted to the red
en-tout-cas surfaces which dried out well after
a shower. Three new hard courts were constructed
on the land between the main lake and Burlington
Road, which were used by the Palace Club.
For
the Buxton Tournament held in early August,
the high quality croquet lawns (sited on land
now used by the miniature railway) were taken
over and marked out into five fine grass courts
on which the most important matches were played.
Also for the summer a covered grandstand was
erected on the north side of this lawn for
any sporting or other events held there. On
a lawn to the south west of this two grass
courts were made available so that the tournament
organisers had at their disposal eight hard
courts and seven grass courts. To digress for
a moment, these fine lawns, where a North of
England Croquet Tournament was held, hosted
a ladies' croquet test match in 1938 - possibly
England against Australia - and the national
press reported that, during an altercation
with the umpire, one of the ladies had flung
her mallet at his head - so Mr. McEnroe
was rather late in the day!!
After
the Second World War, in 1946, the tennis tournament
was revived but by the early 1950's the
writing was on the wall for the Buxton Tournament
due, in the main, to rising costs and falling
entries. The final tournament was in either
1953 or 1954 thus ending what had been a very
important part of 'The Buxton Season' for
70 years. A notable event in the mid 1950's
was the appearance, for one evening whilst
on tour, of Fred Perry and Dan Maskell who
played an exhibition match in front of the
grandstand. Later in the evening they held
a coaching session with the young hopefuls,
which was very popular.
In
the mid 1960's a junior tournament was
run for a few years in the Gardens, notable
in retrospect for the appearance of a young
Roger Taylor and an equally young Stanley Mathews
(son of the famous footballer). By the end
of the 1960's a move was afoot by Buxton
Corporation to build a swimming pool behind
the Concert Hall and the site occupied by both
the upper and lower courts was required for
a car park, so this appeared to be the end
of the road for Buxton Gardens Lawn Tennis
Club; however they did join with the Palace
Club for a few years. After experiencing some
difficulties with the site the opportunity
arose for the combined clubs to build their
own courts on land at Buxton Cricket Club in
The Park and three all-weather courts were
duly opened in May 1974 as 'Buxton Tennis
Club' with adult and junior sections.
The club holds its own competitions and plays
in a Sheffield league, which continues through
the winter. The courts have recently been re-laid
with Latex Tarmacadam, a surface that is claimed
to be an improvement over ordinary Tarmac:
the court areas being green. The courts
are situated near the entrance to the cricket
field, with fine open views to the south west
and it is a considerable pleasure to play there
on a summer day.
This summary extracted from 'White Lines, a Tennis Court Chronicle' compiled and produced by Jek and Sue Jacob
The main part of the booklet may be downloaded as a pdf file here 'White Lines. A Tennis Court Chronicle Buxton'. (WARNING 2 Megabyte download!). No part of this booklet may be reproduced or used in any form without express permission of Jek Jacob. Other sections with appendices, historical maps and pictures may be obtained by emailing a request to 'Buxton Tennis History'
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The
original Buxton courts
(click to enlarge)
Trophy
Presentation c. 1955 / 56
(click to enlarge)
Trophy
Presentation c. 1955 / 56
(click to enlarge)
Tennis
Tournament in Pavilion Gardens
(click to enlarge)
Fairfield
Tennis Club in the 1920s
(click to enlarge)
The
courts today
(click to enlarge) |
