Georgian Derbyshire Festival  Events: Friday 16 September 2022
Events in Derby and Darley Abbey
Theme: Architecture

Tour of St Mary’s Church, Derby

Time: 9.30am to 10.30am
Venue: St Mary’s Church, Darley Lane, Derby DE1 3AX
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: No need to book, just turn up
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible from car park entrance on Darley Lane, accessible toilet

St Mary’s Church was designed by the architect Augustus W N Pugin and consecrated in 1839. This was Pugin’s first expression of his Gothic Revival style. Includes the recently renovated Lady Chapel, the largest Lady Chapel in England when it was added in 1853. Tour will be conducted by Jonathan Grattidge.

Draw Derby at Pickford’s House

Time: 11am to 1pm
Venue: Pickford’s House, 41 Friar Gate, Derby DE1 1DA
Cost: FREE – Give what you think donations
Booking essential: https://www.derbymuseums.org/event/draw-derby-at-pickfords-house
Accessibility: restrictions to upper floors and no accessible toilet

Draw Derby is a free untutored bring your own materials drawing session organised by Karen Logan, in a special event presented in partnership with Derby Museums, come and meet likeminded others and DRAW! Bring a curious, playful attitude, no judgement, no experience needed and all levels of experience welcome. Drawing requires in-depth looking, looking is an act of attention and taking time to draw the city is an act of love.

Tour of Derby Cathedral

Time: 11am to 12 noon
Venue: Derby Cathedral, 18-19 Iron Gate, Derby, DE1 3GP
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: No need to book, just turn up

The main body of the Cathedral as it stands today is a Georgian re-build by architect James Gibbs, completed in 1725. The tower dates from the 16th century.

Darley Abbey Village Tour

Time: 11am to 12/12.30pm
Starts: DE22 1EN – the car park on Darley Park Drive, off the roundabout at A6 Duffield Rd. / Broadway junction
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: No need to book, just turn up

Alan Bradwell of the Darley Abbey Historical Group leads a tour around this Georgian industrial village.  The tour will include Darley Park, Georgian Cottages, Georgian Mill exteriors (if bridge repaired). Toilets and cafe available in park.

Model Make a Mill – Build your own Silk Mill Museum of Making

Time: 4.30pm to 6.30pm
Venue: Museum of Making at the Silk Mill, Silk Mill Lane, Derby, DE1 3AF
Cost: FREE – Give what you think donations welcome
Booking essential: https://www.derbymuseums.org/event/making-a-mill-community-model-making-workshop
Accessibility: Wheelchair friendly and accessible toilets

Craft Workshop by Rebecca Morledge at the Museum of Making in Derby Silk Mill. Come along to the Museum of Making and be guided by artist Rebecca Morledge to paint and construct your own accurate model of the Silk Mill building.  Get ready to be creative and learn paint techniques to represent the architectural materials and construction and see your cardboard spring into 3-D life by cutting and sticking!  Free children’s guide “The Story of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site” illustrated by Rebecca Morledge for all participants.

A Derby Philosopher’s Walk

Time:  4.30pm
Starts: Derby Local Studies, Riverside Chambers, Full St, Derby DE1 3AF
Cost: FREE
Booking recommended: https://www.inderby.org.uk/libraries/events/a-derby-philosophers-walk/
Accessibility: The Library is wheelchair friendly, with accessible toilets and hearing loop and route wheelchair friendly.

Founded by the physician Dr Erasmus Darwin and friends in 1783, the Derby Philosophical Society was a local manifestation of an international movement of ideas known as the enlightenment which transformed thinking about the sciences, industry, medicine and much more. This short walk around Derby City Centre led by Professor Paul Elliott from Derby University (lasting around an hour) will visit places associated with the Derby Philosophers and explore their significance in terms of local and national enlightenment sciences, culture and society.

Contrasts in Georgian Architecture – Talks

Time: 5pm to 6.30pm
Venue: St Mary’s Church Hall,  Darley Lane, Derby DE1 3AX
Cost: FREE – suggested donation of £5
Booking: No need to book, just turn up
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible from car park entrance on Darley Lane, accessible toilet

The restoration of Buxton’s Crescent – how the Fifth Duke’s Georgian spa town vision is being revisited – with Richard Tuffrey

Buxton has been undergoing an extensive programme of heritage-led regeneration since before the Millennium in pursuit of its vision to become an internationally recognised spa town once again. Central to this programme has been the refurbishment of the Crescent, Natural Baths and Pump Room as a 5* hotel and thermal spa complex, shops and a visitor experience telling the town’s story for the first time. Although the project has had a long and sometimes tortuous journey, the refurbishment works were finally completed in 2020 enabling the facilities to fully open last year. The presentation by Richard Tuffrey, former Conservation Officer for Buxton, will tell the story of the project and explain why it has been critical to Buxton’s wider spa town aspiration.

The architecture of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site – with Adrian Farmer

In this brief tour of the Derwent Valley’s most distinctive buildings, World Heritage Site Co-ordinator, Adrian, takes the audience from the giant ‘engine’ that was Derby’s first Silk Mill, to Arkwright’s ground-breaking water-powered cotton mill in Cromford, taking a look at prototype sky-scrapers, government-funded churches and many other distinctive buildings along the way.

Georgian Derbyshire Festival Events: Friday 16th September 2022
Events in Buxton
Theme: Water

‘Pitter Patter’ – water themed activities and crescent experience for Under 5s

Time: 9.30am to 11.30am
Venue: The Buxton Crescent Heritage Experience, The Crescent, Buxton, SK17 6BH
Cost: FREE
Booking essential: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pitter-patter-water-themed-activities-for-under-5s-tickets-399950782557
Accessibility: buxtoncrescentexperience.com/accessibility/

Adventure below the crescent to do some water themed singing and dancing then pop up to the surface to get creative in the Assembly Room.

Georgian Style in Buxton

Time: 10am to 5pm
Venue: Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Terrace Road, Buxton, SK17 6DA
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: no need to book – just drop in.

To celebrate the Georgian Festival, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery is exhibiting some of its souvenirs and artefacts from Georgian Buxton. Come and see enamel patch boxes, ceramics and fans plus early engravings and paintings of the town in all its Georgian splendour. On display in the foyer display case and the landing exhibition area.

‘Taking the Waters’ in Buxton Spa – walking tour with Melanie King

Time: 2pm to 3.30pm
Starts: Outside Buxton Visitor Centre The Pump Room, The Crescent, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6BH
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking essential: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/taking-the-waters-in-buxton-spa-with-melanie-king-tickets-400640335027
Accessibility: The tour takes place in the town centre and therefore terrain will be mostly pavements and roads. However, there may be steps, gentle slopes and some uneven surfaces so please ensure suitable footwear is worn.  More information at buxtoncrescentexperience.com/accessibility/

Join author and historian Melanie King, author of The Secret History of English Spas, in a light-hearted romp discovering Buxton’s fascinating history of ‘taking the waters’. Melanie will set the scene with a 30-minute illustrated talk in the beautiful Grade II listed Pump Room designed in 1894 by Henry Currey. You will discover what type of mineral water Buxton is famous for, the role that the Romans, St Anne and Mary Queen of Scots played in its promotion, and why both bathing in and drinking the naturally hot waters were considered good for the health. The talk will be followed by a guided walking tour to locate some of the hidden and not-so-hidden watering sites of Georgian Buxton—places where you could supposedly be cured of hysteria, itching, or even a nasty case of gonorrhoea.

Meet Martha the Well Woman

Time: 2.30pm – 4pm
Venue: Buxton Visitor Centre The Pump Room, The Crescent, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6BH
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: No need to book, just drop in.
Accessibility: buxtoncrescentexperience.com/accessibility/

Visit us in the Pump Room, meet Martha the Well Woman. Find out about her life and her important role in the Pump Room. Bring an empty bottle and she may even pour you some water!

Using Water in Georgian Times Talks

Time: 5pm to 6.30pm
Venue: Buxton Visitor Centre The Pump Room, The Crescent, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6BH
Cost: FREE – donations welcome
Booking: No need to book, just turn up
Accessibility: buxtoncrescentexperience.com/accessibility/

The celebration of water – Water Features and Fountains. – (Trevor Gilman)

Water has always been essential to life. Trevor Gilman draws on his experience of design and history to look at the celebration of water from the adornment of ancient springs to today’s animated displays. The talk concludes by asking why, in a town whose very existence is down to its spa water, do we do so little to celebrate it.

The water systems of the Derwent Valley Mills (Ian Jackson)