Devonshire Royal Hospital Devonshire Royal Hospital The Devonshire Royal Hospital building (now popularly known as the Devonshire Dome) is a Grade II* listed 18th-century former stable block in Buxton, Derbyshire. It was built by John Carr of York and extended by architect Robert Rippon Duke, who added what was then the world's largest unsupported dome, with a diameter of . It is now the site of the Devonshire campus of the University of Derby. Built between 1780 and 1789, the original building was designed by John Carr of York for William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire. Octagonal in shape, it housed up to
Duke of Devonshire William Cavendish (1552-1626), was a politician and a supporter of the colonization of Virginia. In 1605 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cavendish, of Hardwicke in the County of Derby, and in 1618 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Devonshire. Both titles are in the Peerage of England. He was succeeded by his eldest son, William Cavendish, 2nd Earl of Devonshire, who served as Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire and was a patron of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). On his early death in 1628 the titles passed to his son, William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of