Matlock:
St. Giles Church and Old Matlock, early 20th Century |
Matlock, Twentieth Century Photographs, Postcards, Engravings & Etchings |
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The card's caption is a little misleading as this isn't a picture
of Matlock Bridge; it is an image of Matlock's Parish Church
in Old Matlock or Matlock Town. Several postcards of the church
from this era describe the church as being in Matlock Bridge.
Arthur Mee wrote that "old houses line the narrow cobbled
Stoney Way; on a rocky ridge close by is a church ..., though much
rebuilt ; above the church by a green is a 17th-century house which
has been an inn[1]".
He was referring to the Wheatsheaf Inn, which is on the left of
this picture. The small top gate into the churchyard
is immediately ahead whilst the main gate is half hidden by the
bend at the bottom of the churchyard, opposite the property on
the far side of Stoney Way. The stone ball finials of the old pre1908
gateway can just be made out - to the right of the evergreen. If
you follow the line of the church wall down the hill you can see
a lamp post and beyond that is a kind of dip in the wall, presumably
where the wall had collapsed at some stage. In the
road, to the right of the lamp, is a pile of rubble.
![detail of main image](imag/matlock_stgiles03a.jpg)
This shows the ball finials mentioned above
and the pub sign, mentioned below.
The building lower far right was the King's Head public house,
occupied by Joseph Marsden[2].
You will have to look hard, but its sign is projecting over the
road at first floor height.
Enlarging the image shows it was taken after the 1897-8 alterations. I
(web mistress) believe that this view of the church pre-dates the
postal date by several years; the pictures for other cards of the
area produced by the same publisher seem to date from 1900 to 1904-5.
View even more about the church by clicking on the images below:
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Postcard is JWS 2278. Posted in Derby 23 Aug
1909 and sent to Lincoln. No message. Another card was posted in
1904.
In the collection of, provided by and © Ann Andrews.
Researched, written by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References (coloured
hyperlinks are to transcripts elsewhere on this web site):
[1] Mee, Arthur (ed.) (1937) "Derbyshire:
The Peak Country",The King's England Series, Hodder and
Stoughton Limited, London.
[2] Joseph Marsden was shown at the Red
Lion in Kelly's Directory 1891 | Kelly's
1895 Directory | Kelly's
1899 Directory | the 1901
census |
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