Coats of Arms (WW1 Auxiliary Hospital?)

[Nabean]

Yes, I think most of them are limestone or millstone grit, but someone suggested the Hardwick Mount area as a possible location.

[Ray T]

Looking again at the photograph, I’m no longer so sure that it’s brick. It could well be smaller coursed sandstone in need of a clean. I don’t think it can be a house on Hardwick Mount itself; the photographer was on a level with his (her?) subject and I can’t find an obvious match in levels.

Trouble is that the style of property has features of many properties in Buxton. I’d be tempted to look first at the area around the old Devonshire Royal Hospital, which did take on WW1 casualties, but nothing comes immediately to mind.

[Nabean]

I found this on another site, as possible locations:
St. John’s VAD Hospital, Royal Exchange Buildings, Buxton
St. John’s VAD Hospital, Holker House, Hardwick Mount, Buxton, demolished for flats
-St. John’s VAD Hospital, The Balmoral, Buxton

[Ray T]

Just a snippet to be going on with. It appears that, at sometime between the turn of the 19C and WW1, what is now Hardwick Mount changed it’s name from Hardwick Parade. To further complicate matters, the wider area - between what is now Holker Road and the railway - was known as Hardwick Mount.

N.B. It’s not the block of flats at the end of Hardwick Mount (behind Cooper Sons Hartley & Williams office) that was previously a Congregational church.

[arthurk]

I've just been exploring some of the addresses mentioned by Nabean, and looking for old photos. No success initially, but some of the results were at Picture the Past, a site with old photos from Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire - https://picturethepast.org.uk/

As there was a possibility that it was in Hardwick Mount I searched in Buxton with keyword Hardwick, and one of the photos that came up was this one, labelled Hardwick Square:

https://picturethepast.org.uk/image-library/image-details/poster/dcbm100001/posterid/dcbm100001.html

Look at the building on the left, and its porch...!!! From comparing this picture with a modern map and street view, it seems that the road on the right is what is now Hardwick Mount, which then curls up the hill to the right towards Hardwick Square. On the right, furthest away, is Trinity Church, and to the left of it a building with two second floor windows in a gable, with a two storey bay below the left hand one. This and the church can be seen in the current street view:

https://www.rootschat.com/links/01spu/ (goes to Google street view)

Sadly the other buildings to the left, including ours, seem to be different now.

[Ray T]

I think you’ve cracked it Arthurk! Unfortunately, I think the property has been demolished and replaced by “Haddon Court”, a somewhat monolithic block of retirement flats. I’ll have a wander up there the next time I’m in Buxton to double check.

Looking at the 1877 OS map, the property was called “Holker House”.

PS - what goes around comes around - see here - https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=305609.0 - unfortunately the link no longer works!

[arthurk]

Looking at the 1877 OS map, the property was called “Holker House”.

PS - what goes around comes around - see here - https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=305609.0 - unfortunately the link no longer works!

So this will be the one I mentioned in reply #6. The link I gave there has some brief information about it - repeated here for convenience:

https://wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/hospitals/hospital.php?pid=14526

[Ray T]

Slightly different take on Genuki (with respect to Buxton) - “During World War I the Red Cross established a VAD Hospital here, Devonshire Hospital. They also had St. John's VAD Hospital, Royal Exchange Buildings. This last transferred to Holker House, then to The Balmoral.“

[arthurk]

PS - what goes around comes around - see here - https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=305609.0 - unfortunately the link no longer works!

That thread refers to a post in another forum, but as Ray says, the link doesn't work. I've now managed to track it down at:

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/61241-buxton-hospital-staff/

(Frustratingly it mentions a photo, but the link to that is broken too... )