| Photographs
of Matlock Bath Today (4) |
| Matlock Bath : Twenty First Century Photographs,
Postcards, Engravings & Etchings |
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1. Matlock Dale, the River Derwent and the Colour Works, September
2008.
The Butterley Company's footbridge to the former Colour Works
spans the river[1].
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2. The second photograph of the former colour works buildings
has been included mostly because it shows the grassed area
on the left hand side of the picture. This was where Tordale
Soft Drinks Ltd, begun by the Whittaker family and owned by
them for most of the company was trading, had their bottling
plant. Where the trees are just beyond the grass is where there
was a landslip in the 1960s that destroyed two houses and resulted
in two further properties being demolished[2]. |
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3. The entrance to the High Tor tunnel, taken from one of the
gondolas going up to the Heights of Abraham, September 2008.
The tunnel passed close to the High Tor Grotto and nineteenth
century visitors to the attraction were able to hear the
trains[3]. One
of the major obstacles for the engineers when the railway
was extended northwards from Ambergate was the section between
Willersley and Matlock as the route only briefly emerges
from tunnels. In 1847 George Stephenson announced that the
main tunnel at Matlock was "the key to the district"[4].
There don't appear to have been any fatalities whilst the
High Tor tunnel was being constructed but there were some
extremely narrow escapes. In August 1847, for example, Barnard
Barton and Luke Hall were both caught out when they thought
a touch paper they had lit had failed to ignite. As they
went to check, there was a large blast. Just two days later
Peter Smedley had to jump over a burning fuse that he didn't
know had been ignited[5]. |
View more about the station by clicking on the images below:
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Images supplied by and copyright © Andy Andrews.
Information written, researched, provided by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References (coloured links go to transcripts or information elsewhere
on this web site):
[1] Also see High
Tor and the Colour Works for more on both the works and earlier
bridges crossing the Derwent at this point. Croston's "On
Foot Through the Peak", 1868 mentions the colour
works - the "barytes mill".
[2] There is a photographic record of
this in Julie Bunting's "Matlock and Matlock Bath",
(2002) Tempus Publishing Ltd., ISBN 0-7524-2455-6
[3] Bemroses'
Guide to Matlock, about 1869 mentions the tunnel passing
close to the Grotto and there is a vingette engraving of the
tunnel at that time. It is also mentioned in Croston's
"On Foot Through the Peak" of 1868 and Bradbury's
"All About Derbyshire".
[4] "The Derby Mercury",
Wednesday, September 1, 1847. Geo Stephenson's report to the shareholders
of the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway
Company. He also said that "this part of the line expected
to open in the spring of 1849".
[5] "The Derby Mercury",
Wednesday, August 18, 1847.
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