The view of Hagg Wood and Cat Tor, taken from outside the Cumberland
Cavern in the 1930s by Cyril Edmonds. The New Bath Hotel
and its pool are in the foreground, on the right. We can
also see the tennis courts, the greenhouse and part of the
hotel's market garden. It was busy poolside and plenty of
deck chairs are out, though not too many people were in the
water. Judging by the number of cars on the grass outside
the grounds, the hotel had plenty of customers.
Enlargement of the pool area
The buildings on the left of the main picture,
enlarged below, show the rooftop and back of Portland House
and the Mews or former stable block on Clifton Road as well
as the back of the Bath Terrace Hotel. The Bath Terrace became
the changing area for the swimming pool in the 1950s and
was eventually demolished.
Buildings on Clifton Road
When Portland House was offered for sale in 1950 the advertisement
in the local paper described the Mews as a "spacious
building forming Five Lock-up Garages and Store Rooms"[1].
The mews buildings are of interest as they are
shown here before any conversion took place. The mews were
two separate two storey buildings on either side
of a courtyard, with the garages on the ground level and
store rooms above. There was a gated entrance and a covered
open area that joined the two buildings and also served as
a parking area (there is a car in the right hand section).
A water trough was outside; it is still in place today. Eventually
doors were put onto the two open fronted garages and they
also became lock-ups, rented by many of the residents of
Clifton Road. The upstairs store rooms were converted into
two flats, one with its entrance through an archway in the
wall and the other with its entrance from the courtyard.
When they were converted the flat in the left hand block
was given a large window, with views onto Clifton Road and
what were two allotments on the opposite side of the road.
These were gardens for the two flats and were beautifully
kept by the occupants; today they have been swallowed up
into the grounds of Matlock Bath School and look rather overgrown.
The mews have been altered in more recent times to become
homes instead of garages.
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