8 Museums to Explore in Derbyshire

Barrow Hill Roundhouse is the last surviving railway roundhouse in the United Kingdom with an operational turntable. Built-in 1870. it has a changing display of steam and diesel locomotives and other rolling stock, an operational signal box, the Roundhouse Halt platform, and Springwell Branch running line. Interpretative displays using items from the Museum’s own collection bring the fascinating story of the Roundhouse and the surrounding area vividly to life.

The Blue John Cavern is one of the four show caves in Castleton, Derbyshire, England. This popular showcave is home to 8 of the 14 known veins of a rare form of fluorspar known as Blue John Stone. Visitors can view old mining equipment and visit the Waterfall Cavern and Grand Crystallized Cavern on regular guided tours. The cavern takes its name from the semi-precious mineral Blue John, which is still mined in small amounts outside the tourist season and made locally into jewelry.

Buxton Museum and Art Gallery focuses its collection on history, geology and archaeology primarily from the Peak District and Derbyshire. With over 1,200 objects on display, covering 360 million years of history. Geology: explore a time when sharks swam across the Peak District and when giant dragonflies rule the sky! Ice Age Animals.

Creswell Crags is a spectacular magnesian limestone gorge with a honeycomb of caves that were occupied during the last Ice Age on the border between Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire. The caves provided shelter for nomadic humans between 55,000 and 10,000 years ago, and stone tools, worked bone items and the remains of animals found there give some evidence about the lives of our ancestors.

Crich Tramway Village is the home of The National Tramway Museum which is an ideal destination for all ages. Visitors can ride the world-renowned vintage trams through their unique period street and out into the open countryside for spectacular views, explore fascinating exhibitions and watch as trams are restored from our Workshop Viewing Gallery. The museum's collection of trams runs through the village-setting with visitors transported one-mile out into the local countryside and back.

Eyam's small museum tells the story of the village and the plague which decimated its inhabitants in 1665. The museum has displays the history of medicine in the 17th century, which helps give the background for the terrible events of 1665. The museum not only tells the Plague Story, but also relates the earlier development of the village, and its recovery after the Plague, as a center for farming, mining.

The Peak District Lead Mining Museum is located at Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, England. The museum has a fine collection of old mining equipment and artifacts from the former lead mines of the area including several very impressive pumps of various types - the Derbyshire mines were plagued by water problems, so pumping was very important and a major contributor to the cost of extracting the ore.

The Old House Museum in Bakewell is about 200 metres away from the church, situated in the oldest standing building in Bakewell. It houses a small exhibition of local life and artefacts, in 11 beamed rooms. There are 10 rooms on show within the house, plus an outdoor collection of historic artefacts that includes a stainless steel scale model of a mill wheel from Lumford Mill. Many of the rooms feature their original Tudor fireplaces, and the first floor rooms have exposed timber beams.