These views looking down Bank Road were taken from one of the upper rooms in Central Buildings on Smedley Street, where the photographer Charles Colledge lived with his wife. The top photograph, with the horse and cart, dates from 1915. The driver was probably delivering coal to the boiler house at Smedley's Hydro, which was on the right. As these carts tipped under their own weight, it was relatively easy to shed heavy loads.

The first building on the left side of Bank Road as it descends the hill is only partly shown but is the Primitive Methodist Church built by John Wildgoose. The Sunday School next door was built on the site of the original chapel and was designed by William Doxey.

The first of the properties past the schoolroom, on the far side of the New Street junction, was a grocers in 1911, run by the Shaws (Thomas Shaw was also a hairdresser)^[1]. It had been built by William Doxey, a builder and architect, who was prominently connected with several of the hydropathic establishments^[2]. He had been the architect and surveyor of Smedley's Hydro for over fifty years and was once awarded a prize for an article he wrote on "How best to spend a day in Matlock"^[3]! Mrs. Doxey had a millinery business here for some years. However, in 1883 William Doxey was offering:

TO LET at Christmas, in Bank Road, Matlock, a CORNER LOCK-UP SHOP, good situation, two windows, small room behind.—Apply to William Doxey, Bank Road, Matlock^[4].

The curve in Bank Road just below the schoolroom, where New Street joins the Bank, illustrates just how difficult an undertaking it was for the engineer who designed the Steep-Gradient Tramway.

Below the houses was a dilapidated looking building belonging to the Matlock and District Bill Posting Company which was eventually demolished. The road was then straightened and advertising hoardings were on the land for many years (see Crown Square & the Bank After the Tram, 1928-39). A number of homes have been built here today. Further down the hill, with the tall spire, is what is these days Matlock Methodist and United Reformed Church on the corner of Oak Road.

Dale Road can be seen in the bottom of the valley, and Masson rises skywards on the opposite side. If you look carefully at both pictures you can just about make out the Victoria Tower on the Heights of Abraham. The quarry at the entrance to Matlock Dale was already quite large when the picture was taken. The image below possibly pre-dates the top postcard as, although it is difficult to be certain because it is taken from a slightly different angle, the quarry appears to be slightly smaller.

Matlock Bank Primitive Methodist Church Groups and Activities

Church membership cards

Young Men's Class, about 1904

School Treat, 1904

Prize Choir of 1910/11

Production in Church Hall, 1950s

References (coloured links go to on site transcripts):

^[1] The 1911 census, which is available on FindMyPast - see Links in the footer

^[2] "Shefield Daily Telegraph", 5 Mar 1907.

^[3] "Derbyshire Times", 29 March, 1890.

^[4] "Derbyshire Times", 8 December 1883. The description fits this property, although it not clear if it was. Mr. Doxey advertised a number of properties over the years.

^[5] See the Doxey family in the 1881 census | the 1891 census | the 1901 census. Also see List of Wills.