Buxton Town Hall was opened in 1889 on the Market Place in Buxton,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. It lies in the town's central

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

overlooking The Slopes. It is a Grade-II-listed building.

History

The building was designed in the style of a French

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

(with a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

crested with iron railings,

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

windows and a clocktower with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

) by

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

architect William Pollard (who also designed

Buxton College Founded in 1675, Buxton College was a boys' Public School and, from 1923, a grammar school in Buxton, Derbyshire whose site has been expanded since 1990 to be used as the fully co-educational comprehensive Buxton Community School. Dorothy Dewis, ...

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style 'new building' in 1880). After the Market Hall (designed by

Henry Currey Henry Currey may refer to: *Henry Currey (architect) Henry Currey (1820–1900) was an English architect and surveyor. Family life He was born in October 1820, the third son of a solicitor, Benjamin Currey of Old Palace Yard, Westminster. ...

) was destroyed by a fire in September 1885, the site was selected for the new town hall. The fire brigade with the town's new fire engine was unable to control the fire started by a paraffin lamp in one of the shops in the Market Hall. A competition was held in 1886 for the design of the new town hall. William Pollard's design won the £50 prize and James Salt's local firm was selected to build it at a tender of £8,900 (Salt also built the Entertainment Stage theatre, which is now the Pavilion Arts Centre). The chairman of the governing Local Board, Edward Milligan, laid the foundation stone in June 1887 (the year of the

Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which ...

). The

Marquess of Hartington A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

conducted the official opening of the town hall on 26 June 1889. The clock on the clock tower was a gift from the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has be ...

's tenants in 1889, in honour of

Lord Frederick Cavendish Lord Frederick Charles Cavendish (30 November 1836 – 6 May 1882) was an English Liberal politician and ''protégé'' of the Prime Minister, William Ewart Gladstone. Cavendish was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland in May 1882 but was m ...

, who was stabbed to death aged 45 in the

Phoenix Park Murders The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke (civil servant), Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, British rule in Ireland, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appoint ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

in May 1882 (shortly after arriving to take up his new post as

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century un ...

). There is a bust of Lord Cavendish (son of the

7th Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, (27 April 1808 – 21 December 1891), styled as Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1831 and 1834 and known as Earl of Burlington between 1834 and 1858, was a British landowner, benefactor, nobleman, ...

) on display inside the town hall. Buxton_Market_Hall_1857-1885_by_Henry_Currey

The previous town hall (known as Central Hall) was located in Eagle Parade on the Market Place in Higher Buxton. The old town hall had been a meeting place for the people of the town whereas the Local Board of Buxton met at the Old Courthouse to run the town's affairs. In 1894 the Local Board evolved into the Buxton

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

(UDC). In 1917 Buxton and Fairfield were combined into a single borough, with the town hall as its headquarters. The town hall was built from high-quality millstone grit from the local Nithen Quarry at

Corbar Hill Corbar Hill is a sandstone hill at the south end of Combs Moss, overlooking Buxton in Derbyshire, in the Peak District. The summit (marked by a trig pillar) is above sea level. The north west side of the hill (and most of Combs Moss and Black ...

. The arches at either side were initially open arcades but were subsequently converted into internal rooms. The town hall contained the first free public library in the town. There was originally a ballroom on the first floor, which is now offices. In front of the town hall is the 15th-century market cross. During the 20th century the cross was moved from the centre of the market place to sit next to the 1840 drinking fountain (at the top of Fountain Street) and later to its current position. Before 1813 (when the town was granted a market charter) it had stood on Cockerd Hill (now Palace Fields). The market cross is a Grade-II-listed monument.

Current use

High Peak Borough Council High Peak Borough Council is the local authority for High Peak, a borough of Derbyshire, England. It forms part of the two-tier system of local government for High Peak, alongside Derbyshire County Council. The administrative base of High Peak B ...

, formed in 1974, presently has administrative centres at Buxton Town Hall and

Glossop Town Hall Glossop Town Hall, Market Hall, and Municipal Buildings is a complex in the centre of Glossop, Derbyshire, providing offices for High Peak Borough Council, a retail arcade, and covered market. The Town Hall was constructed in 1838 and signifi ...

. Full Council meetings are usually held in Buxton or at

Chapel-en-le-Frith Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England. It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (belo ...

Town Hall.

References

{{commonscat Grade II listed buildings in Derbyshire

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

City and town halls in Derbyshire Government buildings completed in 1889

History

Current use

See also

References