Old Town Hall The Buttermarket

The Old Town Hall, also known as The Buttermarket, is located on King Street in Bakewell. This building dates back to 1602, with alterations made in 1709 and restoration in the 20th century. It is constructed from coursed limestone with ashlar sandstone dressings and features a stone slate roof.

The exterior consists of two storeys and a two-window range, with a rear wing and external steps on the right side. The building has large quoins and the ground floor is marked by chamfered ashlar piers that support wood-mullioned windows with leaded lights. To the right of the central pier is a studded door, and wooden lintels above feature two armorial crests. On the first floor, there is a central lead downpipe with a rounded hopper, and three restored chamfered, mullioned windows that sit beneath a continuous dripmould. The parapet and end gables are topped with ashlar copings, and there is an end stack with bands on the left side. A 19th-century bellcote with a battered, quoined base is located at the right end. The external steps leading to the ground floor on the right have ashlar side walls.

The right return features a quoined doorway flanked by two-light windows. The ashlar rear wing has a small two-light mullioned window and gable copings with a roll finial. The left return has short two-light mullioned windows beneath a flush ashlar band and dripmould, along with two tie-rod plates and taller first-floor windows beneath a dripmould, with lower eaves to the rear.

Inside, there are two large transverse beams with chamfer stops, and oak common joists at each end, although the centre joists have been removed to accommodate a 20th-century oak staircase. On the first floor, there are two principal-rafter trusses with diagonal struts and collars, along with two purlins on each slope and a diagonally-set ridge.

Historically, the building served as the Town Hall on the upper floor with St John's Hospital located beneath it. After 1709, the almsmen were housed in the almshouses of St John's Hospital at the rear. The building later functioned as a Buttermarket and also as Lady Manners Grammar School.