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Old Hall Hotel & Restaurant,
The Square,
Buxton,
Derbyshire,
SK17 6AZ

The Old Hall Hotel, 1572, town house built for the Earl & Countess of Shrewsbury. This is indeed a very special hotel. The mellowed walls and many ancient rooms are steeped in history, said to be the oldest hotel in England. It is idyllically located in the cultural centre of Buxton, the spa town in the High Peak, one of the most outstanding scenic areas of Britain.

The present building, built by the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1550, replaced an earlier building. It is situated over a natural spring, the warm mineral waters of which were the reason for Buxton’s origin. This was the site of the Roman Baths (“Aqua Arnemetiae”) thought to have been named after the Celtic goddess Arnemetiae. The Celts considered this spring as a sacred shrine, possibly a thousand years or more before the Roman occupation. Historians believe that there has been a building on this very site since time immemorial to offer food, shelter and a place of worship for travellers, in what must have then been a very hostile landscape.

Queen mary

A more recent visitor in 1573 was the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots. She had apartments in the present building for a number of summers as a house prisoner under the ever watchful eyes of Queen Elizabeth I and the Earl of Shrewsbury.

The Old Hall today gently retains that rich pedigree of the past and possesses an atmosphere that produces a harmonious synergy with the comfort and high tech requirements of today’s international traveller.