Derbyshire is rich in stately houses and churches as well as having many smaller vernacular buildings of interest. There are several Derbyshire based architects of note, working from the eighteenth century onwards.

The Architectural Section promotes interest in aspects of British architecture through visits to local buildings and sites of architectural interest and by arranging lectures in the Society’s winter programme on architectural topics, by experts in their field. When possible, a talk on a particular site is followed by a visit, guided by the original speaker. Although our main interest is in Derbyshire, talks and visits may also be centred on places in the neighbouring counties.

Recent visits have included: a specialist tour of Haddon Hall with stonemasons Mark Eaton and his daughter, and apprentice, Alice; a return to Wingfield Station to see the progress achieved by the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust in restoring this last example of Francis Thompson’s work for the North Midland Railway; a walk around Little Eaton to look at the work of local architect, Percy H Currey, guided by Andrew Polkey who had previously spoken to the Society on his research on the architect; a visit to St Wilfrid’s Church, Barrow-on-Trent to see the restoration of the church, again guided by one of our earlier speakers, Jill Scarfe; and a tour of Stone House Prebend, Little Chester, the sole remaining prebendal farmhouse built by the Dean of Lincoln to support the College of priests in Derby, with DAS member John D’Arcy.

The Derby Buildings Record, a major project of the Architecture Section, was initiated in 1987 by Barbara Hutton FSA (1920-2015) and has recorded over 300 buildings.

The Record consists of reports and measured drawings of farmhouses and cottages and other similar vernacular buildings, in some cases also including photographs and reports of tree ring dating. A number of the reports also include documentary research. The focus is the area around Derby, but there are also properties in some areas of Staffordshire and Leicestershire and one in Nottinghamshire.

All of the reports are available at the Derby Local Studies and Family History Library (Reference A720) and have also been deposited with the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record. A number are also available in the DAS Library, e-mail librarian@derbyshireas.org.uk for details.

Click here to download a PDF list of the Derby Buildings Record reports.