Buxton Museum and Art Gallery

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery holds collections of local history, geology and archaeology. It sits in a former Peak Hydropathic Hotel built in 1880 on Terrace Road. During the First World War the building became a Red Cross hospital for wounded Canadian soldiers. The free public library and museum moved in during 1928 after leaving the Town Hall. In June 2023 dry rot forced the museum to close its doors. A year later the council sold the building and the team now works from Buxton Library. The museum’s permanent displays include Carboniferous limestone fossils gathered between 1900 and 1950. Among the archives are the papers of archaeologist Sir William Boyd Dawkins and geologist Dr John Wilfrid Jackson. Randolph Douglas’s ‘House of Wonders’ collection from Castleton contains locks, keys and Houdini items. A fine art section shows 19th and 20th century watercolours, oils and prints by artists such as Sir Frank Brangwyn and Marc Chagall. Blue John, carved limestone and cave deposits form part of the mineral displays. Visitors can explore the recreated Boyd Dawkins Study with his furniture, instruments and fossil collection. The ‘Wonders of the Peak’ gallery traces the area’s history from ancient times to today. Two temporary galleries host changing exhibitions by visiting artists or drawn from the museum’s own holdings. Repatriated Native American and First Nation artefacts have been returned to Haida Gwaii and the Siksika Nation. The museum’s team continues to share these collections while planning a new home for them.