We have fitted our third plaque this month – a replacement for a formerly inaccurate one on North Midland House, Malkin Street, on the approach to Chesterfield railway station. Like our plaque on the Portland Hotel it’s been sponsored by East Midlands Railway Community Fund.

The old plaque it replaced stated that North Midland House (a relatively new name for the building) was part of the original 1840 North Midland Railway station, whose architect was Francis Thompson. This was not correct. What appears to have happened is when the direct railway line to Sheffield was opened in 1870 the original station building was carefully taken down. Bits of the masonry were then used in construction of North Midland House, which was used in connection with the railway for many years. It’s now the home of Spire Insurance.

Our thanks to former chairman Philip Riden for sourcing the plaque. Historical research towards it was also carried out by Philip, members of the Derbyshire Victoria County History Trust research group and members of the Midland Railway Society. Thanks to Spire Insurance Services for permission to site this plaque.

North Midland House is listed grade II.

It’s not been possible to hold a formal unveiling, but we’ll be bringing you more photos and historical background to the plaque in the next week.

There’s a blog about the history of railway stations in Chesterfield from the Derbyshire Victoria County History Trust here.