Matlock Bath residents saw their village change dramatically during 1967 and 1968 when the A6 trunk road passing through the village was widened in the hope of alleviating the traffic problems that were being experienced. This series of five photographs of work in progress have been provided for this website by Ken Smith and show how the road was re-aligned close to the Jubilee Bridge. It involved pushing back the Derwent and building the road over part of the river's original course. The work was to be carried out in sections and was not completed until the mid 1970s^[1].

There had been complaints about the width of the road for a long time. In 1955 it was alleged that schemes for a major road improvement between Cromford Tors and Matlock Bath station had been unresolved for over thirty years and widening the so called 'bottle-neck' had even discussed claim compensation!^[x]

This major engineering undertaking meant that several old buildings along the length of the river, from the Jubilee Bridge down to the Cromford boundary, had to be demolished^[2]. In February 1965 letters from the Ministry of Transport were delivered to those who would be affected, indicating that some sites were to be cleared the following year^[3]. Business premises, from cafes to petrifying wells, were to be destroyed.

The Devonshire Cafe (formerly the Devonshire Hotel) and the Petrifying Well, which had aroused the curiosity of tourists for many years, disappeared under the bulldozers as well as numerous other buildings^[4]. More historic buildings disappeared in a decade than would ever have been allowed today, when conservation and preservation are more of a priority than it was in the sixties.

The main road had always been far too narrow for what had become such a major thoroughfare, something often commented on by Matlock's Councillors, but it was not intended to be that when Matlock Bath was first opened up. There simply wasn't the space along the length of the valley.

Probably the worst bottleneck had been where the Devonshire Cafe and some small shops stood. If you look at the photograph immediately below, these buildings were approximately where the line of piles ends - running from almost opposite Hodgkinson's Hotel to Rose Cottage. Large lorries had passed within inches of their windows and there was a space just twelve inches when the eight feet wide buses had to negotiate past each other^[5]. The North Western buses were far too wide and too long for the road they had to be driven along.

The pretty wooden kiosk and ornate Edwardian turnstile at the end of the Jubilee Bridge, shown above and in the third photograph of this group, was another casualty and much of the Promenade was covered with tarmac. During the tourist season there had been a charge to cross the bridge and stroll along the Lovers' Walks and the kiosk and turnstile had been beside the bridge since shortly before 1910^[6]. Julie Bunting's book shows a photograph, dated 1905, of the kiosk and turnstile at the Promenade's entrance^[7].

A sheet steel cofferdam extending for 150 yards was piled along the riverbank so that the workmen could dig out the footings for the concrete retaining wall. They excavated 15 feet below the normal river level and removed large quantities of rock and river silt and gravel.

In the 4th photograph, below, the original stone retaining wall can be seen. The same picture shows the old Fountain Baths (third from the left with the green doors, next to the whitened windows of the dress shop that had been run by Miss Barnes). The final photograph is a close up view of the piles that were being driven into the river bed.

The end result of the work on this part of the road, which was completed in 1968^[8], is an uninterrupted view of the River Derwent for part of its length, a much wider road and a wide pavement connecting North Parade with South Parade and providing a long and pleasant walkway next to one of Derbyshire's largest rivers.

In 1969 the residents at South End were voicing their concerns, seemingly not for the first time. Whilst properties adjacent to the A6 were condemned, the houses behind them were to remain. This created parking problems for the residents, and the Ratepayers' Association were advised to contact the Ministry of Transport to request that a service road should provide access^[8]. It seems odd that the Council didn't do this as well, but perhaps the details were not all covered by the press. Thefts of a copper cylinder and taps from the empty Masson Terrace houses were reported in the press at the time^[9].

The A6 was detrunked in 2002. This came into force on 17th May 2002 and included the section of road that passed through Matlock and Matlock Bath^[10].

Related pages

About 1900	Before 1902	About 1904-05	Before 1905	Before 1904
About 1905		About 1915		1920s	Tufa fountain
	War memorial		Band stand

References:

^[1] See The Rutland Arms & Fairview Terrace. The road widening was done in stages as the buildings opposite Masson Mill were not compulsorily purchased until 1971.

^[2] See Michael Fay's article "The End of a Long and Winding Road". Scroll down to the section called "Difficult civil engineering work" as there are several photographs showing the work done at Scarthin Rock.

^[3] "Matlock Mercury", 13 February 1965. The Matlock Bath 'Quit' Notes Arrive.

^[x] "Belper News", 12 August 1955. After 25 Years Road is Still 17 Feet Wide. Matlock Concern Over A-6 Bottle-Neck.

^[5] See The Rutland Arms & Fairview Terrace, The Rutland Arms & Masson Mill, Derby Road, Dyson & Clough's Garage, 1930s and Derby Road, Woodland House. The second image down on Simpson's Letter Card shows Smith's petrifying well and a cafe (formerly Buxton's Royal Museum) that also went under the bulldozer. The historic old buildings at the bottom of the Wapping were also demolished as was Masson Terrace, opposite Masson Mill, and the Glenorchy Chapel and Manse.

^[6] Barton, David A. "Around Matlock in Old Photographs", (1998) part of a series called "Britain in Old Photographs", Budding Books, ISBN 1-84015-076-9

^[7] Bunting, Julie (2002) "Matlock and Matlock Bath", Tempus Publishing Ltd., The Mill, Brimscombe Port, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG ISBN 0-7524-2455-6.

^[8] "Matlock Mercury", 8 February, 1969. It had cost £90,000. The work had begun in 1967 and was carried out through the winter months. The old promenade was scheduled for completion in the summer of 1969.

^[9] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 26 October 1968. See Matlock Bath: Masson House & Masson Terrace.

^[10] 2002 No.1168. Highways, England. The A6 Trunk Road (Derby to Stockport (detrunking) Order 2002. © Crown copyright 2002. Printed and published in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited under the authority and superintendence of Carol Tullo, Controller of her Majesty's Stationery Office and Queen's Printer of Acts of Parliament.