Matlock Bank spreads across the steep hillside, rising to quite an altitude!  Anyone walking up the hill from the bottom for the first time will find it quite a climb. At the centre is Smedley Street, a long street crossing the hillside from east to west. Smedley Street was named after John Smedley, the mill owner, hydro pioneer and later castle builder. His single mindedness and idealism put Matlock Bank on the map as little existed on the Bank before the railway line opened and Smedley began building. What he started, others emulated.

So the hydro building, and the subsequent popularity of the various treatments, was responsible for the massive development of this part of the town. J. B. Firth, writing in 1908, said: 'Fifty or sixty years ago Matlock Bank was a bare expanse with few houses' (p.389)^[1]. To modern residents and visitors this may be hard to believe. However, Kelly's Directory of 1848 described Matlock Bank as 'a hamlet in this parish^[1848]' [Matlock] and Francis White, in his Sheffield Directory of 1862, said the Bank contained 'many scattered houses^[2]'.

Smedley's Hydro, now the County Hall, became very famous and was hugely successful; it was the largest hydropathic establishment of the many in Matlock. At one stage in the town's history there were some twenty hydros where people could stay and be (hopefully) cured from their various ailments. This was the place to go for your health cure in Victorian England and hydropathy brought business and prosperity, though not to all.

In their heyday almost all of the large Hydropathic Establishments of Matlock were to be found on the Bank. Some sixteen lodging houses and apartments complemented the hydros, providing cheaper accommodation for visitors. These including the 'Duke of Wellington' Public House and the 'Gate Inn and Livery Stables'. There were and still are shops to support the Bank's community on the Smedley Street, many close to Smedley's Hydro, though there are fewer of them these days than there were when hydropathy treatments were in fashion.

Addresses included in Matlock Bank are Lime Tree Hill (named after a very long lived tree), The Dimple, Jackson Road, Rutland Street and Wellington Street. Matlock Moor goes on from Matlock Bank, along the top of the hill towards Chesterfield. Bank Road, formerly known as Dob(b) Lane, goes straight down from Smedley Street to Crown Square and Matlock Bridge, the centre of the modern Matlock.

The photograph (at the top of this section) is of the view from Crown Square looking up Bank Road and shows how steep the road is. Little wonder that in the nineteenth century Job Smith thought a tramway was a good idea as a means for people to get up and down from Smedley Street to Crown Square and Matlock Bridge. Matlock was the home of the steepest tramway in the world, which ran for over thirty four years.The large stone building on the left of the photo used to be the main part of the Crown Hotel, but the hotel has moved slightly in recent years.

In 1891 there was a town crier - Robert J. Staniford - who lived on Smedley Street. The Regiment known as the Sherwood Foresters (Derbys Reg) were based in Matlock Bank in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Whilst the principal employers in Matlock Bank and Matlock Moor were the hydropathic establishments, the lodging houses and community of small shopkeepers, there were a few others advertising in Kelly's (1908) Directory^[1908]. George Drabble, the timber merchant, lived at The Limes; H. Hand & Son, jobmasters, were at the Gate livery stables; John William Wildgoose, builder & contractor, was at Rutland street; the premises of William Hy. Potter, the hosiery manufacturer, were on the Dimple and Hurd, Sons & Co.. nurserymen, were at the Portland Grange nurseries.

The photograph on the right was taken from Bank Road, looking down towards Crown Square and the bridge, which is approximately in the centre of the shot. The white building on the far side is on Dale Road and the railway line, which actually goes into a tunnel, is just below the fields, with the station off to the right.

A Market Hall, with Assembly Rooms above it, was opened on Dale Road in 1868.

Kelly's 1908 Directory records that the market was held in 'the lower portion [of the building] every Friday and Saturday^[1908]'. Matlock still has its market, but nowdays it isn't on Dale Road. Also to be found on Dale Road at the end of the nineteenth century was Robert Alfred Harker. He was a chemist and druggist and advertised 'Harker's Compound Balsamic Cough Elixir, Quinine and Iron Tonic, Teething and Cooling Powders, three well-tried medicines which should be kept in every house^[1908]'.

Some hotel names may have changed and former hotels may have become pubs but the old buildings of the Crown, the Old English (now the Cromwell Hotel) and the Boat House are still in Matlock Bridge. The Crown and the Boat House were well established before hydros were even thought of.

John Smedley was the owner of the largest hydropathic establishment in Matlock. Built very quickly, the castle was constructed of massive blocks of local gritstone taken from a quarry near the castle and Smedley was the sole architect. Smedley employed skilled craftsmen. Plasterers, for example, came from Italy to work on the Castle. There was electricity and gas, plus a deep well for water.

The Castle's salon was vast. Some of the ceramic tiles used were made by Maw & Co..

Mrs. Caroline Smedley continued to live at Riber Castle after her husband died, though it has since been used for a variety of things, including a boys' school, a food store during WW2 and a zoo. The school was owned by a Reverend John William Chippett, previously of Harrogate.

Riber itself is a small hamlet near the castle; it is 798 feet above sea level and this rises to 928 feet.

Riber was the property and residence of the Wolley family for several centuries and there is an altar tomb dated 1578 in St. Giles' church that is dedicated to Anthony Wolley 'of Ryber', Agnes (his wife) and six children. The Wolley family were long livers, as the tombstone of Adam Wolley (1558 -1657) and his wife Grace (1559 - 1669) that is also in St. Giles' shows. This couple were married for 76 years and lived at Allen-hill in Matlock. The Wolley's were important people in Matlock's history and their family papers, and other documents collected by Adam Wolley are listed among The Wolley Manuscripts.
Wolley Manuscripts, Matlock
Wolley Manuscripts, Derbyshire
Pedigree of Wolley of Riber
Wolley of Darley Abbey, descendants of the Wolleys of Allen Hill.

It was another Anthony Wolley, a bachelor, who sold the stone built hall in 1668. Then, in 1724 the co-heiresses of the Chappell family divided it into two moieties (note: moiety means half). In the late 19th century Riber hall was shown as being inhabited by the Wall family^[5] and Hearthstone (Harston) was the 'property of a yeoman named Statham' (Bryan^[6], p.245). There was supposed to have been the remains of a Druidical altar on Riber hill, but this was destroyed in the nineteenth century.

Riber became part of the parish of Tansley in 1865, though continued to be included under Matlock in the various directories. The children of the hamlet attended the National School at Starkholmes.
1891 Directory of Tansley
The QuickList has census returns and more trades directories

	Matlock: A Peep at Riber Castle
	Mr. Chippett's School at Riber Castle
	Matlock Bath: Fountain Baths, Swimmers From Riber School Boys from Mr. Chippett's School attended swimming lessons there
	Riber Castle, Matlock : A Classroom
	Matlock: Riber Hall
	Riber Hall, an early twentieth century painting by Henry Hadfield Cubley
	Riber Hill and Riber Castle, a view of the farms and dry stone walls below the castle
	Riber Castle, Four Mid-Nineteeth Century Engravings One from Mrs. Smedley's book and three smaller ones from John Smedley's book

The Local Schools
Water Cures Includes an engraving of Mr. Smedley's tent, where his employees worshipped
Churches and Chapels
"There Was Red Tape at Smedley's Hydro Then"
The Enduring Folly of Riber Castle
Riber Castle School "A Lesson in Matlock's History"

Section of Ordnance Survey Map of Riber (1903)

Elsewhere on the Internet:
Riber Hall's website (opens in a new window)

Lumsdale is where the corn mills and bleach works were and was an industrial area of Matlock, where most of the population of Tansley were employed at one time. In 1857 Lumsdale is describes as '1½ miles east from Matlock. Here are three bleach works and a cotton spinning factory, all of which are in Tansley^[3]'. The area was noted for the amount of energy created from the use of water power.

At one time some seventeen or so mills were able to operate from one small stream, the Bentley Brook, because of the power that was generated as the water falls about eighty feet. Dams were constructed in the very steep hillside so the mills could operate and some of these dams are still intact, though the mills set into the hillside are in ruins. Apparently, in winter time, when the waters were high, some mills were unable to operate because there was too much power! Matlock Mills, in Lumsdale, advertised its use of water & steam in 1891^[1891]. The mill was owned at that time by the miller Ernest Henry Bailey, who was also a dealer in barley, oats, Indian corn and linseed cakes etc. The steep valley contained cotton, tape, paper, saw mills etc. and there was a small railway. As the photograph shows, the wooded valley is very picturesque.

A Russian delegation visited Matlock some years ago and were particularly interested in both Masson Mill beside the River Derwent and Lumsdale.

Lumsdale became part of the parish of Tansley in 1865.

There is a Lumsdale Society which is is a conservation society concerned with preserving and restoring the valley.

Matlock Dale is the area opposite High Tor, towards Matlock Bath, and is included in Matlock Bath in old tourist guides and trades directories. There is a bend in the river here at the foot of High Tor that has been favoured by artists for several centuries; it is known as Artist's Corner. This section of the River Derwent is now regularly used by canoeists and climbers can be seen scaling the face of the Tor almost every weekend.
About Matlock Bath
St John's Chapel overlooks the Dale.

The north end of the dale was described by W. Adam in his "The Gem of the Peak" (1840) and the names of the residents in 1840 can be found elsewhere on this site.
Excerpts from the book and names of the residents in 1840

Many photographs have been taken and artists have painted the view of High Tor and the Dale over the centuries.
Matlock and Matlock Bath Images has a large selection of postcards and photographs.