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Hall's "Days in Derbyshire", 1863*
Eighteenth and nineteenth century tour guides about Matlock Bath and Matlock
 
Matlock Bath, Matlock Bank, Riber, Dethick and Lea
"Days in Derbyshire"
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If Spencer Timothy Hall, a Hydropathist and Homœopathist, had decided to purchase the "little un-occupied villa" with "a good supply of water" on the Bank in about 1848 or so, Matlock's history might have been quite different. But he didn't buy the property as he thought the building was too small. He subsequently lived briefly in Matlock, having moved to Wellfield House in early July 1861, and one of his children was born on Matlock Bank. He was still in residence in 1862, but must have moved shortly afterwards. He wrote this guide to Derbyshire the following year whilst treating patients at Green Bank, Bowness, Windermere. In the extracts reproduced here he quotes from "Matlock", the poem by John Allen. Dr. Hall also provides a contemporary description of the impact of John Smedley - who did buy the villa. Spencer Timothy Hall was born in Sutton-in-Ashfield in 1813 and died at Blackpool on 26 April 1885.
Spencer Timothy Hall can be found at Wellfield House in White's 1862 Directory.

CONTENTS
green button Chapter the Third. Going to Matlock Bath. pp.20-32. Only partly extracted, but included to set the scene.*New*
green button Chapter the Fourth. Matlock Dale, pp. 33-46
green button Chapter the Fifth. Matlock Bank and Darley Dale. Part extract, pp. 47-52
green button Chapter the Sixth. Stonnus, and Fox Cloud. Part extract, pp. 56-59 *Additions*
green button Chapter the Seventh. Riber, Dethick and Lea, pp.74-80
green button Chapter the Eighth. Lea Hurst and Holloway, pp.81-86 *New*
Adverts as Images
green button Bemrose Circulating Library, Matlock Bath
green button Hartle's Museum, Matlock Bath
green button Hodgkinson's Hotel, Matlock Bath
green button Smedley's Hydropathic Establishment, Matlock Bank
green button The Villa, Matlock Bath
green button Walker's Bath Terrace Hotel, Matlock Bath
green button Walker's Royal Museum, Matlock Bath
green button Advertisements pp.13 - 30 (Nine) (with text transcripts)
green button Advertisements pp.64 - 70 (Six) (with text transcripts)

Engraving of wild flowers. From the bottom of page 46

Llewellwynn Jewitt reviewed the work in "The Reliquary" Volume 4, 1863-4.
"Few people are imbued with a keener perception of the beautiful in nature than is Dr. Hall, and fewer still possess the power of painting that scenery in words which is possessed in so eminent a degree by him. He is a dear lover of nature, revelling in its enjoyment, and he has a happy knack of imparting that enjoyment to his readers. His present volume, unlike his former ones, aims at being a kind of guide-book for the use of the tourist, and he has therefore divided it into little districts, in each of which he supposes himself and his companions to spend their "days" ...
*Transcribed by Ann Andrews in November 2004, with additional text in 2021, from:
Hall, Spencer Timothy (1863) "Days in Derbyshire ..." With sixty illustrations by J. Gresley (artist), Dalziel Brothers (illustrators). Simpkin, Marshall and Co, Stationers' Hall Court, London, and printed by Richard Keene, All Saints, Derby.
With my grateful thanks to Ray Ash who provided photocopies for me to OCR.
Image scans © Ray Ash collection with a few more images added in 2021 © Ann Andrews collection.
Intended for personal use only.
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