Buxton: Big skies — Terrace Edition

Words: Tom Reed

Images: Tom Reed

Buxton FC play football in the sky.

Their Silverlands stadium is the highest in England at 1000 feet above sea level.

Even though they keep it on the deck, the heavens dominate.

A Peak District panel beater’s afternoon of a dented grey vista.

It’s an achievement just getting to the ground, as the incline takes its toll on ageing calves up Holker Road.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Buxton FC vs Leamington FC. On film.

The stitching on the Adidas Sambas starts to stretch with the hamstrings.

Buxton’s famous for its water and called Aquae Arnemetiae "Baths of the grove goddess” in Roman Times, but the flow is towards Silverlands and the people are here to take in the football.

The name of the home terrace says it all: “The Railway End” and it was the two locomotive lines through the town that made it steam ahead, with the population tripling in twenty years from the 1860’s.

There’s a sign for sponsors “Buxton Lime” which runs the length of the Silverlands pitch, hinting at the limestone quarries which dot the area, rather than a penchant for match-day mojitos.

While Buxton mineral water sponsors the shirts, it is limestone and its by-products quicklime and lime mortar which really built the town, helping improve the quality of the soil for farmers and to bond the stones of buildings.

©Tom Reed/ Terrace Edition. Buxton FC vs Leamington FC. Digital.

You’ll see a row of limestone houses behind the scratching shed stand, symbolising Buxton’s quiet resilience and industrial strength to persevere in a landscape that is so up and down as to ask why bother?

Frank Soo was born in Buxton on Victoria Terrace, only now being recognised properly as a pioneering Anglo/Chinese footballer who represented England during World War Two.

Soo’s parents lived a life of quiet graft in their time in Buxton, running a laundry and raising the man who would captain Stoke City and play in a team alongside Stanley Matthews.

Although Soo never turned out for the Bucks, he retained an affinity for Silverlands, returning in 1939 for a benefit match with Stoke alongside Matthews, with 3000 turning up for the occasion.

You get that sense of history on a Saturday at Silverlands and although Buxton FC have never been big hitters, a pride runs through the whole lot.

The Buck’s promotion to the National League North in 2022 was an indication of ambitions of National League football, after so many years of toil in the Northern Premier League.

At kick-off in the battle of the spa towns vs Leamington FC, the fragile August sunshine is tumbled over by waves of dark nimbostratus clouds.

Hailstones bounce off the artificial surface as the teams take to the pitch for a match of four seasons worth of weather in 90 minutes.

There’s little to separate Buxton and Leamington in truth, with the Midlands club cancelling out a 15th minute Buxton opener on the cusp of half-time via a nice touch and take from Callum Stewart.

The half-time break saw Buxton’s ground bustle with younger supporters as the next generation of “young bucks” took advantage of the £30 season tickets for 5-15 year-olds.

As the second-half kick-in, the active fans in the Railway End produce a nice racket, with a never-ending drum beat, urging the Buxton players to fight on, even when the lactic acid pools.

Buxton boss John McGrath wasn’t satisfied with some of his side’s impatient play against a dogged Leamington side, but his team had 73% of possession, with just a finish needed.

Leamington had Ben Sault rubbed into the wounds when the former Lincoln youngster, rounded the keeper for Buxton and slotted home in the 94th minute for a 2-1 win.

The game, like the weather could have gone either way under those big skies but Buxton grasped the three points and the stroll back into town was sweetly downhill on Holker Road.