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A card of Cumming's Old Bath Hotel, dating from the 1840's. Found in old family documents*, this was where the likes of Lord Byron and Walter Scott stayed when they visited Matlock Bath to take the waters. 1 On the front:
[A Phaton or Phaeton is a light four wheeled open carriage, usually drawn by a pair of horses]
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E. Rhodes wrote in "Peak Scenery" 1823: 'Besides the hotel where we have taken up our residence, there are two other excellent inns at Matlock Bath. The principal one is denominated the Old Bath, and it is a spacious building, capable of affording accommodations to nearly one hundred visitors. At this inn there is an excellent assembly-room, with lighted glass chandeliers ; and a hot and cold bath are included within this establishment. ... In addition to the inns, there are many comfortable lodging houses, the principal of which is kept by a Mrs. Evans, and known by the name of the Temple. ... It is connected to the Old Bath by a spacious terrace carried along the side of the hill which forms a most delightful promenade.' (p.256) The Old Bath was eventually demolished and replaced by the Royal Hotel. |
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*Image and information supplied by and Copyright © of David L Bates from his personal collection intended for personal use only. If you are interested in this family, please email David. He says that 'the note on the card must have been written by my father's father or one of my grandfather's first cousins'. We think this card dates from between 1840, when the station opened at Ambergate, and 1842, when Mrs. Cumming died. |
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More on site information about the Cumming family Matlock Biographies:
see CummingGem
of the Peak (1840)Newspaper
CuttingsBrewer's
Derby Directory, 1823Taverns &
Pubs, 3 early trade directory extractsPigot's
Directory, 1842Matlock
& Matlock Bath Names in the London Gazette See William John
Cumming in 1843 and Alice
Ann Cumming in 1853. The Old
Bath was a venue for property sales in the 18th
century and a place where officials met in the 19th
century. It was sold in 1857 and in 1869 the Hydropathic
Company was wound up.There is more about the opening up of the railway Matlock
Bath Station House and the last Station Master |
