Archive: This article describes Buxton Museum in 2019. Its former Terrace Road premises closed in 2023. The museum reopened in a temporary home next to Buxton Library in October 2026; see the museum for current exhibitions and visiting information.
Buxton Museum and Art Gallery won the Judges’ Special Award at the Derbyshire Heritage Awards for Wonders of the Peak on 3 May 2019. It also reported record visitor numbers for April 2019, when the touring exhibition Hoards: a hidden history of ancient Britain was on display. The British Museum records that Hoards, developed with Salisbury Museum, ran in Buxton from 13 April to 16 June 2019.
“The Hoards exhibition has been received hugely well by visitors – the feedback has been phenomenal. People have travelled from all over to make a special trip to Buxton to see this. It’s fantastic to see the museum so busy!”, said Ros Westwood, then Derbyshire Museums Manager.
Buxton’s museum was established in the Town Hall in the late nineteenth century. It moved to the former Peak Hydropathic hotel on Terrace Road in 1928, where Sir William Boyd Dawkins opened the museum and library. Dr Samuel Hyde was associated with the hotel; the Crescent Heritage Trust and the museum’s former guide give different opening years for the building.
The museum’s £1.5 million redevelopment in 2017 refurbished the Wonders of the Peak gallery, which told the story of the Peak District’s geology and archaeology.
Ros Westwood, Derbyshire Museums Manager said, “We have more objects on display than ever before. The redevelopment and changes to our museum over the last few years has been incredible. And the entire museum remains free entry along with virtually all of our events programme. The public really does appreciate this too – we saw the best April ever in our donations boxes which we are very grateful for”.
“The hard work from everyone involved in redeveloping Wonders of the Peak has certainly paid off and it was fantastic for our museum to be a winner at the Derbyshire Heritage Awards a few weeks ago”.
Former museum address (closed in 2023): Buxton Museum & Art Gallery, Terrace Road, Buxton, SK17 6DA
T: 01629 533540
Opening times in 2019: Tuesday to Saturday, 10am–5pm; Sundays and bank holidays from Easter to September, noon–4pm.
Entry in 2019: free.
The museum is now in a temporary building next to Buxton Library on Kents Bank Road. Find Buxton Library on Google Maps.
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