| Matlock, Derbyshire |
| Matlock became famous for hydropathy cures in the nineteenth century |
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The town's population expanded enormously after the railway line opened.
Each part of the modern town has its own history and unique
characteristics
Matlock is discussed below under the following sub headings:
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Matlock - from Riber Hillside © Paul
Kettle
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 About The Parish : Extract
from Kelly's 1891 Directory[1891] |
'Matlock is an extensive parish in the Western division of the county
[Derbyshire], hundred and county court district of Wirksworth, petty
sessional division of Wirksworth, Bakewell union, rural deanery of
Bakewell, archdeaconry of Derby and diocese of Southwell.
Matlock Old Town is half a mile south east of Matlock Bridge station
on the Midland railway, 148½ miles from London, 16½ miles north-by
west from Derby, 10 south-west-by-south from Chesterfield, 10 south-east
from Bakewell, 10 from Belper, 4 north-by north-east from Wirksworth,
66 from Rugby, 46 from Leicester, 23½ from Loughborough, 32 from Nottingham,
65¼ from Lincoln, 164 from Bath, 59 from Birmingham, 107 from Cheltenham,
69½ from Leeds, 294¾ from Edinburgh, 56 from Melton, 40¾ from Sheffield,
49¾ from Doncaster and 83¾ from York.
The parish is divided into several districts or localities, the principal
of which are Matlock Bath, Matlock Bank, Matlock Bridge and Matlock
Town and Green. The trustees of the late William Pole Thornhill esq.
and others are trustees for the copyholders, who are lords of the
manor. The landowners are Frederic Charles Arkwright esq. J.P. of
Willersley, Samuel Smith esq. the Rev. Charles Wolley-Dod M.A. of
Edgehall, Malpas, and numerous freeholders. The land is chiefly pasture;
soil and subsoil limestone and gritstone.
The area in acres is 4,491 acres of land and 48 of water; rateable
value £31, 977; the population in 1861, including Matlock Bath, Matlock
Bank, Matlock Bridge, Riber, Scarthin Nick and Starkholmes, was 4,252,
in 1871 was 5,220 and in 1881 was 6,093.'
Also see:
 Miscellany
- for information on: The Manor of Matlock | Nineteenth century expansion,
population and councils | Matlock in the Domesay Book
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| Matlock Bank & Moor |
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.
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- MATLOCK BANK - situated on the sloping side of a lofty
eminence about half-a-mile to the east [of Matlock Bridge],
is the creation of the second half of the present century.
Fifty years ago a cottage or two were the only habitations
on the hillside where now stand many palatial buildings
and handsome villas. Here HYDROPATHY, as now practised,
had its earliest home. Its initial stage was on a very limited
scale; but from this mean and insignificant beginning has
arisen perhaps the largest and most magnificent hydropathic
establishment in the world'.
"History, Topography and Directory
of Derbyshire" (1895) by T. Bulmer and Co, p.417,
Matlock
(Contributed by Sonia Addis-Smith)
List of
Hydropathic Establishments in 1891
"There
Was Red Tape at Smedley's Hydro Then" |
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 (right) 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. |
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Bank Road, formerly Dob Lane, from Crown Square © Ann Andrews
The lower part of Bank Road was included under Matlock Bridge
in Trades Directories |
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. |
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Also on this website see:
All Saints'
Church
All
Saints' School & Ernest Bailey Grammar School
See QuickList
for trade directories and census returns
Rockside
Hydro - "Watered-Down Future for a glorious icon of
the age of the hydro"
Darley is the parish adjacent to Matlock Bank : Hackney and
Hackney Lane are in Darley.
Kellys
1891 Directory of Darley |
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| Matlock Bridge |
Matlock Bridge developed from a
small hamlet into the business area, centred around the mediaeval
stone bridge that spans the River Derwent. This, historically,
was one of the few crossing points along the length of the river.
The bridge dates from the fifteenth century and has four arches;
it was widened in 1904[1941].
There is a painting, entitled 'The Bridge at Matlock', by the
English artist Joseph M. W. Turner (1775 - 1851). His subject
is one of the many Derbyshire scenes favoured by artists.
Snitterton Road, Bakewell Road, Dale Road, Crown Square and
the bottom part of Bank Road are traditionally part of Matlock
Bridge, though these days it is not easy to see where Matlock
Bridge ended and Matlock Bank began.
The railway station is at Matlock Bridge, though it is now at
the end of the line from Derby. In its heyday the line was part
of the Midland Railway and trains stopped at the station en
route for London and Manchester. It all began in 1849 when the
Midland Railway Co. opened a branch line that went from Ambergate
to Rowsley, with stations at Matlock Bridge and Matlock Bath.
This was later extended further and went as far as Manchester.
In 1891 the station manager was John Ashton, but by 1908 he'd
been replaced by Joseph Henry Clarke.
It was as a direct result of the railway line and the station
that Matlock expanded into the town we know today. There was
more space for development here than there was in Matlock Bath
and the small hamlets and clutch of houses became part of the
modern town.
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]'. |
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Matlock Town Hall © Paul Kettle |
Towards Matlock Bridge © Ann Andrews |
Shops have changed as owners have come and gone. Half a century
ago there was The Manchester Stores on Dale Road which sold
linens; it is now a restaurant. Marsden's was a drapers/clothiers
and school outfitters where the little boys went with their
mother to be fitted with a 'best' suit in the gentleman's section.
Gone, too, is the Picture Palace Cinema and Hunter's. Burgon's,
Orme's and the Derwent Valley Co-Operative Society have also
disappeared from Crown Square.
Dale Road was developed in the nineteenth century; the Firs
Parade shops were built by the local firm of Wildgoose in the
twentieth.
Employers in Matlock Bridge, covering a variety of industries,
were listed in Kelly's (1908) Directory[1908].
They included Thomas Beck, the stone merchant, Thomas Boden,
coal & coke merchant and Walter Drabble & Co. Ltd.,
(lead mine owners) who were based at Station yard; Constable,
Hart & Ltd., (Norman Hart, manager), were operating Cawdor
Quarries and Job Greatorex & son were tar paving contractors
and quarry owners based on Dale rd.; Hall & Co.were also
on Dale road; the Matlock & District Gas Co., (Robert Hall
F.S.A.A. sec. ; Thomas Brown manager) had works on Darley road
and the Singer Sewing Machine Co. Ltd. (Charles Herbert Buckley
, agent), were on both Smedley street & trading in the Market
Hall. |
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Also on this website see:
Lead Mining
Stone Quarrying
QuickList
for directory entries and census returns
Matlock
Lido, "Liquidating a Former Tourist Asset" |
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| Hotels in Matlock Bridge |
The town's large hotels - the Crown, the Old English and the Boat
House - were and still are all located in Matlock Bridge. In the last
century there were Temperance Leagues and Societies and a Temperance
Movement. The Oxford English Dictionary gives an early example of
the Temperance Movement as early as 1836. Matlock had a Temperance
Hotel. |
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In 1891 the proprietor of Brown's Temperance Hotel on Dale Road was
Miss H. Marriott[1891]. The
establishment she ran was not licensed as no alcohol would have been
available for guests to drink at a Temperance Hotel. This was the
only Hydropathic Establishment advertising in this part of Matlock
in that year.
See
transcripts of more Matlock Bridge entries in Kelly's 1891 Directory
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| The Hall Leys Park |
Mr Henry Knowles offered, in February 1898, to transfer
to the public the fields known as the Hall Leys and in June of that
year the Council gave £500 towards the project. This became a public
park, with gardens, promenade, bandstand and eventually tennis courts,
boating lake, bowling, and a children's play area - including a paddling
pool and miniature railway along the riverbank.
Up until about 1925 there were three shops between the Park and Crown
Square but these were demolished. The tram shelter was moved from
the middle of Crown Square to its present position.
See Bank Road &
the Tram
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© Ann Andrews |
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The Band Stand, which is in the centre of the park, is shown in the photograph on the left. Matlock's Brass Band have performed here.
Matlock's Brass Band website
Some
onsite information about the band
The maker's plate on the Band Stand states that it was made
by Lion Foundry, Kirkintilloch. Colin Goodwyn has said that
If you go to Kirkintilloch and look in their park, as he has
did one evening some years ago, you may be surprised to see
an identical Band Stand to the one on the Hall Leys, though
in a somewhat better condition. This suggests that, if that
town used that particular design themselves, then it must have
been the best one that the foundry could supply and that the
design Matlock purchased was therefore the "top model". |
At the end of the path is the footbridge across the river to Dale
Road, which has two plaques on it showing the levels flood water reached
in the 1960's. The flood water would have covered the floor of the
bandstand.
There is more information
about the floods.
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| Matlock Green & Matlock
Town (Old Matlock) |
Matlock Town is 'the older
part of the parish' and the oldest buildings are here. It is
now a quieter part of the town. On the green beside the church
is a lovely stone house that dates from 1681; it was originally
Wheatsheaf Farm but has been both a pub and a pottery in the
past. The Old Rectory is on Church Street and dates from the
late 18th century. The ancient church of St Giles is here too,
next to the Wheatsheaf, on the hill going up the from Matlock
Green towards Starkholmes. The church overlooks Matlock Dale.
Amongst all the local people buried in the churchyard are a
number of tombstones commemorating those who did not survive
their treatment in the various Hydros (this can also be said
of the gravestones at Holy Trinity Matlock Bath). The list of
Rectors spans many centuries; the earliest named was alive in
1300. The Matlock War Memorial is also here, and is positioned
with a commanding view of the modern town.
Matlock Green is in the valley below Matlock
Town and with Lime Tree Hill and Matlock Bank rising up on the
other side. This is where the corn mills and bleach works of
Lumsdale join the town, as the road from central Matlock (Causeway
Lane) passes through towards Matlock Cliff and then to Tansley.
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List
of Rectors
Churches
and Chapels
Matlock War
Memorial
Mr. Arkwright of Willersley was listed amongst the residents
of Matlock Town as Willersley is within the parish, although
it received its mail through Cromford.
A Trades Directory of 1908 recorded that 'many of the old [lead]
mines have been reopened and are being worked mainly for the
spar'.[1908]
Lead mining
Stone quarrying
Also on this website see:
The Local
Schools
QuickList
has directory entries and census returns |
White's Directory, 1857 said that fairs were held in Matlock
on February 25th, April 2nd, May 9th, July 6th and October 4th
and 24th[3]. At that
time, the weekly market had been 'obsolete' for about forty
years although it was 'the intention of the inhabitants to re-establish
it'. A cattle market was held every alternate Thursday at Matlock
Green but by 1932 the cattle market was described as being 'held
occasionally'[1932].
In 1941 this was amended still further to 'the Matlock and District
Agricultural Society organise several cattle and produce shows
each year[1941]'. Horses
had been sold at the Matlock market, at the annual May fair
on 9th May, which was held in a large field by the roadside
(now a petrol filling station). The sale of cattle moved to
Bakewell market. |
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| Riber |
The ruin of Riber Castle, built by John Smedley
in 1862, dominates the town of Matlock as it is perched on the
edge of the hill above Starkholmes, very high up. 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. - see images M147, M148, M159 and
M254 from the castle's fireplaces.
A newspaper
report about one craftsmen
Website about Maw & Co.
John Smedley was the owner of the largest hydropathic establishment
in Matlock. His wife continued to live at Riber Castle after
he died, though it has since been used for a variety of things,
including a boys' school and a zoo. |
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Picture of Riber Castle from the original painting © Frank
Clay of Matlock,
reproduced here with his kind permission. |
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 1891 Riber hall was shown as being inhabited by John Wall
and Roger Handley, both described as farmers, and Hearthstone
(Harston) was the 'property of a yeoman named Statham' (Bryan[4], 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. |
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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
Also on this website see:
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) |
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| Starkholmes |
Starkholmes follows the line of the old road
that connects Matlock Green with the village of Cromford. In
1848 Starkholmes was described as then being 'a district of
scattered houses in this parish [Matlock]. Here is a place of
worship for Primitive Methodists'.[1848]
On the hillside below Riber, Starkholmes overlooks Matlock Bath,
but is only connected to that village by a steep footpath near
the railway station. The footpath and the land on either side
of it is the only access to Matlock Bath from that side of the
valley and a footbridge over the River Derwent is at the lower
end of the path. In July 1882 a resolution was passed to construct
a road between Starkholmes and Matlock Bath, but this has never
been implemented. There is a steep road (Riber Road) connecting
Starkholmes with the hamlet of Riber. |
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Starkholmes, from the top of Holme Road, Matlock Bath (Jan, 2001) |
The children attended the National School. In 1905 the Fox Memorial
Primitive Methodist chapel was built at Starkholmes.
The Local Schools
Churches &
Chapels
The QuickList has
trades directories and census info
See Kelly's
1876 Directory
Also
see Kelly's 1891 Directory
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| Matlock Cliff |
The area known as Matlock Cliff goes from Matlock Green towards the
village of Tansley and became part of the parish of Tansley in 1865.
St. Andrew's Home, run by the Church of England Waifs' & Strays'
Society as an orphanage, was in Ernest Bailey's former home on Matlock
Cliff.
Also see Ernest
Bailey's - one of The Local Schools
QuickList has
directory entries and census returns.
Have
a look at Kelly's 1891 Directory
Have
a look at Directory of Tansley 1891
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| Lumsdale |
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. |
The mill stream, Lumsdale |
|
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. |
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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
Town and Green Residents, 1891
Kelly's
1891 Directory of Tansley
Also see the QuickList
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| Matlock Dale |
Matlock Dale is the area opposite High Tor, towards Matlock Bath,
and is usually included in Matlock Bath. There is a bend in the river
here at the foot of High Tor that has been favoured by artists; 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.
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Photographs kindly provided by and ©
Paul Kettle and the webmistress.
Information researched by and © Ann Andrews. Intended for personal
use only
|
References:
[1] Firth, J.B. (1908) "Highways and
Byways in Derbyshire" MacMillan & Co., London
[2] "General Commercial Directory and
Topography of the Borough of Sheffield with all the Towns, Parishes,
Villages and Hamlets Within a Circuit of Twenty Miles" (1862),
pub. Francis White & Co. Sheffield. See Names
in White's Directory, 1862
[3] White, Francis (1857) "History,
Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Derby", Francis
White & Co. See Names in White's
Directory, 1857
[4] Bryan, Benjamin (1903) "History
of Matlock - Matlock, Manor and Parish" London by Bemrose
& Sons, Limited
[1848] "The Post
Office Directory of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire
and Rutlandshire" (1848), Kelly and Co., London
[1891] "Kelly's Directory of the
Counties of Derby, Notts, Leicester and Rutland" (May,
1891), pub. London |
}
}
}
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There are online transcripts: 19th
century directories |
[1908]"Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1908 } There are online transcripts: 20th
century directories
[1932] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1932 } -
[1941] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1941 } -
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