We are delighted to have received approval from J.D. Wetherspoon, as owners of the Portland Hotel, to install a plaque to commemorate both the hotel and the adjoining Market Place station of the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. The Portland served in part as refreshment rooms for the new station.

This will join a new plaque on North Midland House (the office of Spire Insurance Services), which dates from c.1870 and appears to incorporate masonry from Francis Thompson’s original station of 1840. The text of the existing plaque on this building is inaccurate. Both plaques have been generously sponsored by East Midlands Railway.

The text of the two will be as follows:

Midland Railway Engineers’ Office Built c.1870. Incorporating masonry from the former North Midland Railway Chesterfield station of 1840 designed by Francis Thompson.

Portland Hotel Opened 1899. Architect James Ragg Wigfull (1864–1936). To the right of this plaque stood the Chesterfield Market Place station of the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway. Architect Cole Alfred Adams (1844–1909) Opened 1897. Closed 1951. Demolished 1973.

You can read more about Cole Alfred Adams by clicking on the link here which will take you to the Derbyshire Victoria County Trust’s blog on him.

We have placed an order with our suppliers, Leander Architectural of Dove Holes, for both plaques. They already have an order from us for a new plaque for 87 New Square, and it may be possible to unveil all three at the same time.