Look down the slope towards the Crescent.
Click the PLAY button to hear former local librarian, Lyn Morris, describe the last days of the Buxton Library in the Crescent.
Or read the transcript below:
Buxton Museum & Art Gallery
by
Look down the slope towards the Crescent.
Click the PLAY button to hear former local librarian, Lyn Morris, describe the last days of the Buxton Library in the Crescent.
Or read the transcript below:
by
Built between 1887 and 1889 to directly rival the nearby Palace Hotel, the Empire Hotel was demolished in 1969. Rarely used as a hotel whilst it stood, The Empire was commandeered for military purposes during the First World War as the Canadian Discharge Depot, which had been previously located in Shoreham and then Bath. It had around 1,000 troops receiving medical attention at any one time.
Following the Second World War, the Empire Hotel never reopened and was occupied by squatters who were removed in 1949. The building fell into dereliction and was subsequently demolished in 1969. All that remains today of the Empire Hotel is the former gateway at the top of Carlisle Road.
by
Poole’s Cavern has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years. It was formed around two million years ago by the waters of the River Wye. Recent excavations uncovered molten blobs of bronze, hammered ingots, Roman pottery, animal bones, Roman coins, bronze jewellery, and a crucible for pouring molten metal. These finds suggest that a bronze-smith was working from the cave during the Roman occupation, supplying the soldiers on leave from the front lines of the Roman invasion with trinkets and jewellery. [Read more…] about Roman Buxton – Poole’s Cavern
by
The Picture House, 84-86 Spring Gardens, Buxton.
Although there is no date to accompany this image, the film showing is “For Heaven’s Sake” starring Harold Lloyd which came out in 1926 and we can therefore assume this photograph was taken around then. Harold Lloyd was a huge star in the 20s, making over 200 films and ranking alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. This show probably would have been a crowd puller.
by
Marks and Spencer, Spring Gardens, Buxton
Around 1955
This 1950s view of Spring Gardens shows Marks and Spencer almost unchanged from the view today. The shops to either side had less permanence. The famous brand first started at Kirkgate Market, Leeds, in 1884 and became a common sight on most high streets by the time this photograph was taken. Glamour and style came bouncing back after the constraints of the Second World War with shops like M&S leading the way.
by
Miller’s Cafe, 23 Spring Gardens, Buxton
Around 1938
There are references to Miller’s on Spring Gardens as early as 1912 advertising their specialities as “cream candies, home-made toffee, chocolate mixtures, fondants and marzipans”. By 1938, Miller’s had expanded into a three-storey café with rather a grandiose frontage and a light-up sign.
There are photographs in the collection that document a visit from the Wells Dressing Queen in 1938. We can therefore assume that Miller’s was regarded as an significant location in its heyday. They closed for business sometime in the 1990s but had survived, in one form or another, for over 80 years.