A panoramic view of Matlock Bank and Matlock Moor taken from high up on the Heights of Abraham, probably in the 1940s. In the valley below where the photographer was standing is the Matlock end of the Dale and both the railway line and the scar of the large Parish quarry, by this time known as the Harvey Dale Quarry, at the southern edge of the town can be seen. The large house is the Rocks and we can see the long stone wall that forms its boundary with Cliff Road as well as some properties at the junction with the main road.

Unfortunately, general views from this time do not enlarge well because of the printing process used at that time. So whilst we can just about make out some of the larger features and familiar landmarks much of the detail is lost. "Looking towards Matlock Bank ... we can pick out Smedley's Hydro, an imposing building half-way up the hill"^[1]. The line of both Bank Road and Rutland Street stand out, although from this distance the viewer has no sense of the steepness of either road and the Bank appears to be a relatively gently sloping hillside. On the right of the top image, under the curved branch of the tree, is the line of housing on Lime Tree Road, going up from Matlock Green.

Detail from top postcard. Something we can see is that there had been further housing development on Edge Road. It was closer to having houses along the whole of its length on the road's northern side, rather than just at each end. More infill was to take place on the fields below Smedley's hydro in later decades of the 20th century.