The Devonshire Hospital
(now University of Derby, Buxton)

The Grade II* listed buildings of the Devonshire Hospital began life in 1785 as the Great Stables for the fifth Duke of Devonshire's fleet of horses and carriages. In 1858 two-thirds of the property were granted to the town "for ever" by his son, the sixth Duke, as a hospital for the "sick poor", on payment of the nominal rental of five shillings per annum. The remaining third continued in use as stables until 1880/81. When it opened its doors to the public in 1859 the hospital contained 100 beds - later increasing to 300.
In 1882, ten years after the above picture was engraved, the hospital’s great domed roof was added, courtesy of architect Robert Rippon Duke. The structure was a masterpiece of Victorian engineering and was, for many years, the largest unsupported dome in the world.

At 47m and covering more than half an acre the dome is larger than the domes of St Paul’s Cathedral in London and St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
In 2001, ownership of the Devonshire site was transferred to the University of Derby (Buxton Campus) from NHS Estates, which had managed it as a hospital since the creation of the National Health Service in 1948.
The restoration took more than five years to complete with £6 million in grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund. A further £2.6 million came from the Learning Skills Council, with £1.5 million from HEFCE and £1 million from the Single Regeneration Budget Programme of the East Midlands’ Development Agency.

Inside the dome today
 English Heritage (who also contributed £160,000 to the project) were consulted closely througout - ensuring that all work was completed to a high standard with sensitivity to original styles, materials and building methods. With this essential support the University was able to save the Grade II* listed building from the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ register.

Craftspeople were engaged to work on joinery, lead roofing and specialist glazing, installing hundreds of panes of glass hand-blown in Poland. Lime plaster with goats’ hair was applied to walls, and paints were painstakingly blended to match the original colours.
A Japanese Maple floor, that had been laid on top of the original floor in the 1950s, was removed and the original Baltic Pine floor renovated and re-laid at a cost of £220,000.
The campus was completed and opened in the autumn of 2005. The full-time student population of around 2,500 has transformed Buxton into a true 'University town'.