Another 7 Buildings in Buxton That No Longer Exist

In this 2025 guest feature, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery revisits seven lost structures, following its earlier guide.

1. Dunmore Square, Buxton Market Place

Dunmore Square was a group of buildings at the northern end of Buxton Market Place, in front of where the present Town Hall stands. The museum describes them as unsanitary; the council’s conservation appraisal dates their demolition to the 1870s.

The nearby Market Hall burnt down in 1885; the present Town Hall was later built on its site. In 1985, local artist Alan Clark painted this imaginary interior of a marble workshop in Dunmore Square, looking reasonably hygienic. There were many workshops like this in and around Buxton at the time and they often referred to themselves as museums. Alan was part of the team that created the original award-winning Wonders of the Peak gallery at BMAG and some of his artwork and fantastic models have become part of the collection.

Roman coins were discovered at the baths near the Crescent. The council’s conservation appraisal notes a theory that the Market Place was the site of a Roman settlement; the coins do not themselves establish a fort there.

1. Lawson’s Wine Vault, Spring Gardens

Another lost building stood on Spring Gardens. Lawson’s Wine Vault or Lawson’s Corner as its name would suggest was on the corner of Terrace Road and Spring Gardens. With a view to widening Buxton’s main commercial thoroughfare, the protruding building was ordered to be removed by the powers-that-be.

John Lawson’s claim for compensation went to arbitration. Busy traffic on Spring Gardens continued to be a civic headache and it was eventually pedestrianised in the 1990s.

1. Oriental Tea Kiosk, Pavilion Gardens

The kiosk appears in two photographs in the museum collection. Its architect, William Radford Bryden, also designed the Old Clubhouse. He submitted a proposal to rebuild Solomon’s Temple; local historical research says the committee chose a design by George Garlick.

The Oriental Tea Kiosk in Buxton’s Pavilion Gardens was built in 1899, tapping into the Victorian fascination with Eastern culture. The museum says it later became an amusement arcade. The Derbyshire Record Office records that it was dismantled in 1977.

1. Cab Shelter, Terrace Road

There are half a dozen images in the museum collection of the cab shelter at the bottom of Terrace Road, we’re not sure exactly where but the war memorial on The Slopes can be seen in the background so that gives us an idea. Some photographs have horses and carts parked outside and others show automobiles so we can conclude that the shelter stood for several decades and bore witness from four-legged transport to wheels.

The museum says it is unclear whether the shelter was for drivers, passengers or both. From the available photographs, it estimates that the shelter was removed between the 1930s and 1960s.

1. Midland Railway Station

This is one of Buxton’s most famously absent structures and probably should have been included in our original lineup. The town once had two neighbouring stations across the road from each other, owned by different railway companies.

The aerial photograph shows the two neighbouring stations. Historic England attributes their unified design to J. Smith, with advice from Joseph Paxton. Read more about Buxton’s lost railways.

1. Racecourse Grandstand, Fairfield Common

The museum identifies this painting of Fairfield’s racecourse grandstand as the work of Manchester artist and teacher Harry Kingsley (1914–1998), based on an earlier print. Fairfield was then a separate township.

The ornate grandstand appears in the painting against the bare hills, with donkeys in the foreground. Buxton Methodist Church says timber from the grandstand was reused in its 1849 church building.

1. Hoffmann Kiln, Harpur Hill

Most Buxtonians have heard of Hoffmann Quarry in Harpur Hill or perhaps its nickname The Blue Lagoon, due to the cobalt-coloured chemical lake that lingers in the old quarry. A few years ago, The Blue Lagoon got into national press due to its propensity to attract enormous groups of teenagers. We should hasten to repeat that it is not safe to party in old quarries or swim in water tainted by toxic substances!

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, limestone from the quarry was processed in the kiln before being loaded onto the Cromford and High Peak railway. The museum identifies the photograph as Harpur Hill Football Club in 1921 with the Derbyshire Cup. The museum dates the kiln’s closure to 1944, while the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record gives 1947. The record dates the chimney’s demolition to the 1950s and the remainder’s removal to about 1980.