Photographs Through Time

The Buxton Ladies Baths have been through many changes over the years. In 1695, when Cornelius White designed and built the first baths since the Roman invasion, ladies were expected to share the Poor, or Charity, Baths.

Later developments incorporated the ladies baths into the Thermal, or Hot Baths, building which utilized the famous glass ceilings. In 1985 the Hot baths were converted into a shopping centre known as the Cavendish Arcade which still retains original features of two of the smaller baths.

 

Click the button to hear Janet Byers recount the horrors of the cold water treatment lady.

Press READ MORE to see the audio transcript.

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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.

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an’s, 32 Spring Gardens, Buxton

February 1940

Standing in front of Argos, on Spring Gardens, there’s no trace of E.C. Milligan’s Drapery and Milliner’s shop. The photograph above, taken on 27th February 1940, shows a distinctive building with a colonnade frontage.

Milligan’s was demolished in the 1970s but older residents of the town remember the shop fondly as a high class shopping destination. The shop’s cash carrying system is also remembered. Sales assistants would place payment into round pots to be transported by wires and pulleys to the cashiers. Payment was taken, and change sent back to the assistant via the wires.

Press ‘tell me more’ to hear local memories of Milligan’s.

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