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| A general view of Buxton Museum and Art Gallery |
When the Romans founded Aquae Arnemetiae – apart from the geothermal springs – they also exploited the various mineral resources that are found in this region and the underlying geology has since played an important role in the development of towns such as Buxton and Bakewell within the Peak District National Park.
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| Books for sale at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery |
It is therefore not surprising to discover that Buxton Museum and Art Gallery possesses an excellent collection of specimens that relate to its geology, which includes Blue John, Ashford Black Marble, various cave deposits from the Pleistocene period and a gallery dedicated to the work of Sir William Boyd Dawkins.
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| A view of some of the objects collected by Sir William Boyd Dawkins |
As a combined museum and art gallery, I was also very interested to see that some of the artwork on display also had a geological theme and I particularly liked the depictions of dragonflies, which once flew around the Carboniferous swamps, and the interactive event produced by Peak Puppets - where children were able to enact a scene from a Jurassic sea.
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| Dragonflies |
When I visited the museum, its contents were being catalogued in preparation for its current refurbishment - as I have previously experienced when working at Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham - and I wasn't able to see it at its best; however, I was very impressed with the collections that I did see - and its architecture too. Originally built as a hotel to serve visitors to the spa, it still possesses some fine architectural details – especially the stained glass.
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| Stained glass at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery |
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