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About us
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)
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