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Matlock & Matlock Bath : What's New, 2020
Find out about the latest information that's been added to the Matlock and Matlock Bath website
 
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Dec 2020 New pages:
The page about Chatsworth Hydro has been re-written and split into two sections. The image published in a book about C & A is now on Matlock: Chatsworth Hydro, 1912-46

1. Matlock: Poplar Cottage & Jeffs' Poplar Hydro (Chatsworth Hydro), 1857-1912. Poplar Cottage was opened by Ralph Davis in 1857 and was later run by other members of the family. It changed hands in 1900 and became Jeffs' Poplar Hydro. Two images and two advertisements. Included as image from the Maureen Smith collection.
2. Matlock: Chatsworth Hydro, 1912-46. A hydro, a clothing company's UK headquarters and a teacher training college. Jeffs Poplar Hydro underwent a change of name before the first war and the newly named hydro was often advertised as being close to the golf links. It had a number of owners between the war, was bought by C & A and eventually sold in 1946 to become part of the Teacher Training College. Four images and an advertisement. Includes an image from the Maureen Smith collection
Additions to:
1. Matlock: General View from Jackson Tor, 1904-1910, & Jackson House. A second advert for the hydro and more info.
2. Matlock Bath: Museum Parade & The Pitchings, 1910. The page has been re-written as more information has been found.
Oct/Nov
2020		 New page:
1. Matlock Bath: The Pavilion on the Hillside, mid 1880s. Panoramic view, showing the recently opened Royal Hotel, the Church, the newly built Pavilion and the Victorian Houses on Clifton Road.
Additions to:
A new collection, the Maureen Smith collection, has been donated and pictures from it will be added to the site over the coming months. Five images have already been included (items 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8). With grateful thanks.

1. Another MI, for the surname STATHAM. With thanks to Kellie Channing for the photograph.
2. Flooding in the Matlocks. 1921 image is new.
3. Bank Road & the Steep-Gradient Tramway. 1921 image is new.
4. Hawe Lees, Matlock, showing Bandstand and New Pavilion. The image has been replaced.
5. Matlock: Lumsdale, about 1900. Two additional postcards and another photograph.
6. Matlock: Lumsdale Ponds. Two additional images and more about the ponds themselves.
7. Matlock: Derby & Derbyshire Convalescent Home (NALGO House). A new image and more about its time as NALGO House.
8. Matlock & District Amateur Operatic Society, Productions 1907-69. A number of programme covers have been donated to help fill in the gaps. Thanks to Jane Boden and the Maureen Smith collection.
9. Matlock & Matlock Bath : Multiviews from the late Nineteenth Century to 1914. Additional image.
10. Matlock Bath: Lovers' Walks. A 1930s image has been added.
11.Matlock Bath: The Royal Hotel, Pavilion and Holy Trinity Church. Second image added, showing a helter skelter lighthouse on the Fish Pond Stables site.
12. Matlock: Ernest Bailey's Grammar School, July 1947. Additional names from Albert John Cooke. Thank you. There are many names of male pupils but female pupil names are much less in number!
13. R. Bagshaw has discovered a second service number for WW1 casualty Charles Bunting, resulting in finding more information about him. With grateful thanks.
Sep 2020 New pages:
1. Matlock: Chesterfield House Hydro, 1868. A steel engraving of Ralph Davis' Chesterfield House Hydro, executed not long after it was built.
2. Matlock & District Amateur Operatic Society, 1930 - The Gondoliers, entire cast. Everyone on the stage at Matlock Cinema House (later the Ritz Cinema). Bernice Stoddart collection. This is a new collection, that belonged to the owner of the Prom Cafe in Matlock Bath. With very grateful thanks to Gina and Joe.
3. Matlock & District Amateur Operatic Society, 1931-5. Photographs of the society's productions in the first half of the 1930s. Ruddigore (1931), The Yeomen of the Guard (1932 - no images), The Chocolate Soldier (1934), The Quaker Girl (1935). Also from the Bernice Stoddart collection
4. Matlock: Starkholmes Women's Institute, late 1953 - Tree Planting. The WI bought two cherry trees to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Thank you to Susan Tomlinson for her photo and for checking the WIs archives.
Additions to:
1. Matlock: Smedley's Memorial Hydropathic Hospital. Advertisement for South View Cottage added. This was the building's original name.

From the Bernice Stoddart collection:
2. Matlock & District Amateur Operatic Society, 1956. Photo of some of the cast and helpers enjoying afternoon tea between the afternoon and evening performances.
3. Matlock Bath: Lovers' Walks and the Band Stand. Additional photo.
4. Matlock Bath: Pantomime in the Parochial Hall, 1941. Additional photo.
5. Matlock & District Amateur Operatic Society, Productions 1907-69. Cover of the 1939 production.
Aug 2020 New page:
1. Matlock Training College staff and students 1958. Panoramic photo split into six sections. With thanks to Keith Mason.
2. Additions to:
1. Matlock: Rockside Hydro. Additional image of the hydro, not long after the 1906 rebuild.
2. Matlock Dale: High Tor & the Suspension Bridge over the Derwent. A second image of the same view a year or so before the bridge was built has been added.
3. Matlock & Matlock Bath: Inspiration of Poets. A poem about the Via Gellia, written by William Gregory who lived at Bonsall and then Holloway. With grateful thanks to Susan Tomlinson.
Jul 2020 New pages:
In the section covering Matlock St Giles' Church Marriages:
1. Witnesses to Marriages (1754 - 1779)
2. Witnesses to Marriages (1780 - 1800)
Most marriages were witnessed by either one, two, and sometimes three people. Witnesses included clergy, people connected to the church and relatives.
With very grateful thanks to Susan Tomlinson for transcribing the witnesses for this web site. It is a really useful additional resource.


3. Matlock: St. Giles' Church, 1890s.The parish church before the renovation of 1897-8. The parish church before the renovation of 1897-8. Includes the purchase of a safe for storing the parish registers..Two images.
4. Matlock: Lumsdale Ponds. Tansley Mill, later Scholes Mill, was built for Samuel Unwin at the end of the seventeenth century. Also the Middle Pond. Two images.

5. Whose name should be on Matlock's War Memorial on Pic Tor? See:
Names on Matlock's War Memorial : WW1, Surnames A - J
Names Not on Matlock's Memorial
Additions to:
1. Matlock: St. Giles' Church Interior, about 1910-12. Images added - and some surprising art work on the walls surrounding the chancel's east window.
Since putting these additions online, I have been given three more images for website publication. Please revisit as I am adding more written material to the page as a result.
2. Matlock Bath: Rider Point, Via Gellia. A Charles Colledge card has been added.
3. Matlock Dale: St. John's Church, Cliff Road (2). Additional pre WW1 image.
4. Lists Through the Centuries: The Nineteenth Century: Church Fundraising, 1859, 1886 - 1895. Restoration of Matlock Parish Church, 1859. This was for the restoration of the chancel.
May 2020 New page:
Whittaker's Tordale Bottling Plant, Dale Road, Matlock Bath - Bottles & Siphons. A rare blue soda siphon with the Whittaker name on it and several Codd bottles used by Mrs. Whittaker. With grateful thanks to a private collector.
Additions to:
1. Names on Matlock's War Memorial : WW1, Surnames K - W
The identity of R. Milne, together with his war record, has now been confirmed following recent research.
There are now only 3 casualties on the memorial whose identity is uncertain.
Apr 2020 During April I have concentrated on filling in all the gaps in the Parish Registers. Some of the pages needed rearranging as a result.
1. Baptisms from July 1776-79 were added, so a new page of baptisms 1770-1779 was created and other pages were reorganised, with some information corrected or re-transcribed.
2. 1801 baptisms have been added and entries between 29 Sep 1799 to 11 Apr 1803.
3. Baptisms for 1832, also missing, have been transcribed for the site by Susan Tomlinson.
4. Burials from October 1776-79 were added, so a new page of burials 1770-1779 was created and other pages were reorganised, with some information corrected or re-transcribed.
5. Burials for 1832 were also missing, and have been transcribed for the site by Susan Tomlinson.
With grateful thanks to Susan for her invaluable help.

Other pages have been updated, but I have not noted them all.
Mar 2020 New pages:
1. Matlock Bath: New Bath Hotel, from Wild Cat Tor. CDV of both the hotel and the properties nearby, with a contemporary description of the hotel by William Adam
2. Matlock Bath: General Views from Cat Tor, 1906 - 1913. Three more images of the view of the village from Cat Tor, two definitely taken before the First World War and the third one, from a Ward Lock Guide, was possibly taken then. The Ward Lock image has been transferred from an older page on the web-site which no longer exists. With thanks to Susan Tomlinson for the use of one of her postcards.
Additions to:
1. Engraving of Matlock Bath, from the Wild Cat Tor Enlargement of part of the image. The image is of an earlier date that first thought.
2. New Bath Hotel Stereoview has a little more about the nineteenth century visitors.
2. Matlock Bath: New Bath Hotel (2). Two more postcards added, as well as additional info about the hotel's once famous lime tree.
3. Matlock Bath: New Bath Hotel (5) - Two images and an enlargement. Now includes why and when the Roadhouse Bar was built.
4. Matlock Bath: New Bath Hotel Booklet, about 1900. Two pages have been merged so that all three pictures from the booklet are on the same page.
5. Hall's "Days in Derbyshire" 1863 has been redesigned and more material added to existing pages. There is also a new chapter covering Riber, Dethick and Lea. The images have also been improved.
6. Croston's "On Foot Through the Peak", 1868 has also been redesigned, with a number of new pages added, existing chapters added to and images improved. So Chapters 14 and 15 (the latter in two parts) are now complete instead of partially transcribed and Chapter 16, in two parts, is new.
7. Other guides have had images improved and/or have minor additions. See the Matlock & Matlock Bath Guides Index.
8. Three more St. Giles' MIs for the surname WHEATCROFT. With thanks to Susan Tomlinson.
9. Matlock Bath Holy Trinity Church Burials - additions to
Feb 2020 New Pages:
1. Matlock Bath: The High Tor, the Railway and the Gas Works, mid 1860s. CDV taken by Mr. or Mrs. Petschler.
2. Matlock Bath: Children's Corner, Grand Pavilion, 1923. This was sited on ground that had formerly belonged to the Ferry House.
Additions to:
1. Matlock Bath: Grand Pavilion, Obelisk and Spar Shop. Includes more about the spar shop as well as details about the Old Bath/Royal Hotel obelisk over the year. Now includes who re-painted the sign in 1938, replacing the Royal Hotel's name with that of the Temple.
2. Matlock Bath: The Royal Pavilion - the Palais Royal. A black and white image of the Pavilion has been added, enlarged from a postcard, and replacing a smaller image.
3. Holy Trinity Church, Matlock Bath - Interior. Now includes a description of the interior after it was built.
4. Matlock Bath: Lovers' Walks, 1914. More about a former shop on that side of the river.
5. Jane Thomas has kindly supplied photographs of headstones, etc., in St. Giles Churchyard Area A. They include surnames Andrews, Ashmore, Brailsford, Duggins, Farmer,Moore, Morley, Potter, Towe and Wilson. These have been transcribed.

6. Some time ago an image of the old glasshouses had been added to Matlock Bath: New Bath Hotel and Cat Tor, 1930s. This has been enlarged and improved.
Jan 2020 New pages:
1. Matlock: Willersley Castle Contents Sale, 1927 - Drawing Room. A number of good quality fireplaces were advertised in the sale catalogue, including this one. With an image of the room after the Castle was sold.
2. Matlock Bath: View from the Heights of Jacob - the top of Jacob's Ladder or Steps. Old steps, set in woodland, connecting South Parade with Bonsall via Upperwood. With thanks to Susan Tomlinson for the use of her photographic postcard.
3. Pre 1858 Wills & Administrations in various UK archives Surnames C - G has been created from Wills Surnames A - G as that page was getting too large. The info for Surnames A - B are on the original page, with some changes to the navigation.
Additions to:
1. Matlock: Smedley's Hydro Drawing Room, 1906. Wonderful description of the room, from Henry Steer's book, now included.
2. Biographies, Surnames S. Short biography of local architect George Edward Statham, who designed the Old English and undertook work for Smedley's Hydro.
3. Matlock & Matlock Bath Miscellany. The sections about Matlock & District Rifle Club and the National Reserve, Matlock Branch have been updated and details about Matlock's coat of arms have been added.
4. Matlock Bath: Temple Hotel. A third postcard and another advertisement added.
5. Short extracts from William Adam's 1857 edition of "The Gem of the Peak" about the recently opened Smedley's Hydro have been added to Matlock: View From Matlock Bank and Matlock: Smedley's Hydro, Extending the Hydro.
6. Matlock & Matlock Bath References - Books & Other Publications now includes a review of the latest book by Christopher Charlton and Doreen Buxton - "Matlock Bath - A perfectly romantic place".