Bakewell

Bakewell's name means the spring or stream of a woman called Badeca; it was recorded as Badecanwelle in 949. The town was probably founded in Anglo-Saxon times, in the kingdom of Mercia, and All Saints' Church was founded in 920, with Saxon crosses that are older still. The Domesday Book of 1086 records land held here by Edward the Confessor, a church with two priests and a mill. A motte-and-bailey castle was raised in the 12th century, of which only earthworks remain, and in 1254 the town was granted a market, the start of its life as a trading centre. The five-arched bridge over the Wye dates from the 13th century.

In 1697 a chalybeate spring was found and a bath house built, and in the 18th century there was an attempt to turn Bakewell into a spa like Buxton. Richard Arkwright built Lumford Mill in 1777, and much of the town was rebuilt in the 19th century. The railway arrived in 1862, against the protests of John Ruskin, who complained that every fool in Buxton could now be at Bakewell in half an hour; the Duke of Rutland insisted that the station be kept out of sight of Haddon Hall.

The line between Matlock and Buxton closed in 1968, and its track bed became the Monsal Trail. Today it is the only town inside the Peak District National Park, and the park authority has its offices here. The town drew national attention when Stephen Downing, convicted in 1974 of a murder in the town cemetery, had his conviction overturned in 2002 after 27 years in prison, thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history.

Bakewell's year follows the Peak District calendar. Well dressing comes in June, when pictures made of flower petals pressed into clay appear around the town. Carnival week follows, ending in a procession at the beginning of July, and August brings the Bakewell Arts Festival of music and theatre, begun in 1997. The Peak Literary Festival meets twice a year, from the last Friday in May and the last Friday in October.

The town has a long agricultural tradition. The Bakewell Show, founded in 1819 and known as the Little Royal, was until 2017 one of the largest covered agricultural shows in the UK, attracting about 65,000 visitors, before it was suspended. Monday market day, with its cattle market across the river, remains the busiest day of the week.

Literature and television have added to the town's fame. In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet names Bakewell as the town from which she travelled to Pemberley, and Chatsworth, a few miles away, has been referenced in books and used as a setting for films and television. The Great British Bake Off pitched its tent in a Bakewell car park for its puddings week in its first series. Local sport is played at a recreation park east of the centre, and the town has rugby union and football clubs.

About 3,500 people lived in Bakewell at the 2021 census, a notable fall since 2011, and the population was 98 per cent White. It is the largest settlement in the Peak District National Park and the centre for a ring of villages including Ashford-in-the-Water, Baslow, Over Haddon and Youlgreave.

Tourism draws both domestic and foreign visitors, alongside the National Park Authority, whose offices at Aldern House on Baslow Road make it a major employer. Newholme Hospital, a 19th-century cottage hospital opposite, was sold to a developer in 2024, with a new health centre beside it. Lady Manners School, founded in 1636 by Grace, Lady Manners of Haddon Hall, is the secondary school, and the Brew School at Rutland Mill, opened in 2014, is the UK's largest dedicated brewing and distilling school.

The town's independent character is defended keenly: a Costa Coffee branch caused protests from local businesses when it opened and closed after almost ten years, in spring 2023. The A6 runs through the town, which has no bypass, so the centre is busy with traffic. There are long-standing efforts to reopen the railway through the Wye valley, and the county council protects the old track bed from development.

The Bakewell pudding is the town's own dish: a flaky pastry base with a layer of sieved jam, topped with a filling of egg and almond paste. The popular story is that it began by accident in 1820, when the landlady of a local inn left instructions for a jam tart with an egg and almond paste in the pastry, and the cook spread the egg and almond on top of the jam instead; when baked, the egg and almond paste set like an egg custard, and the result was popular enough to stay on the menu. Three shops in town claim to sell the original recipe.

The Bakewell tart is a different thing: a shortcrust pastry shell filled with layers of jam and frangipane, topped with flaked almonds. Commercial versions, often iced, have spread the name across Britain, among them Mr Kipling's Cherry Bakewells. Shops in the town sell traditional puddings, plain and iced tarts and moist variations side by side.

Beyond the puddings, there is the Monday market and a monthly farmers' market at the agricultural centre across the river, and the town's cafés, pubs and tea rooms serve walkers and visitors from the national park. The Brew School at Rutland Mill trains brewers and distillers. The surrounding villages have their own pubs.