J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

With the page turned vertically, there are two landscape studies separated by a horizontal pencil line below, and a townscape above. Ian Warrell has suggested that the central sketch of a steep hill may show Topley Pike,1 south of the Bakewell road in Wye Dale about three miles east of Buxton, hence Turner’s inscription ‘Rd to Bux’. If so, the steep crag is shown from the road looking east, although modern tree cover prevents a precise comparison with all the features Turner shows. Below, Turner notes Chee Tor, which stands above a loop of the River Wye, and possibly Wormhill, the village to its north, about a mile north-east of Topley Pike, but the small scale and lack of obvious landmarks make the viewpoint difficult to establish. See under folio 52 verso (D22246) for other views in and around Buxton.

The top drawing shows a town with a pinnacled church tower to the right. Again, the subject is uncertain, although industrial Manchester, through which Turner passed on his way to Scotland in 1831, is a possibility;2 for other views in this sketchbook see under folio 12 recto (D22171).