Bakewell of much of the town in the 19th century. Bakewell is in the valley of the River Wye in central Derbyshire. The town centre is sited near the river at about above sea-level, with the highest parts of the town at about on the valley sides. The town is in the Derbyshire Dales district and is about southwest of Sheffield, southeast of Manchester, and north of Derby. Nearby towns include Matlock to the south east, Chesterfield to the east and Buxton to the west northwest. Villages near Bakewell include Ashford-in-the-Water, Elton, Great Longstone, Monyash, Over Haddon, Sheldon, Rowsley, Pilsley, Youlgreave
Bakewell was the focus of attention during the Stephen Downing case, which involved the conviction and imprisonment in 1974 of a 17-year-old council worker, Stephen Downing, for the murder of a 32-year-old legal secretary in Bakewell Cemetery. Following a campaign by a local newspaper, his conviction was overturned in 2002, after Downing had served 27 years in prison. The case is thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and attracted worldwide media attention. Bakewell is mentioned by Elizabeth Bennet as the town from which she travelled to visit Pemberley, in ch. 43 of Jane Austen's "Pride