This wonderful photograph of the ancient lime tree, that stood for centuries on Lime Tree Hill, was taken by the Matlock photographer Joseph V. Drake. The winter scene, with the valley below Riber full of mist, is believed to date from the 1920s. The road was slushy, so perhaps snow had fallen a few days before. The old tree stood at the junction of Lime Tree Hill and what is known today as Hurst Rise, but was then called Dark Lane. The buildings shown on the left of the picture were on Dark Lane, probably farm buildings for Lime Tree House. The tree was showing signs of its great age, with several large limbs damaged and broken. It was felled on 26th March 1928, as shown on the image's mount (below), which was both dated and signed by the then Surveyor of the Matlocks Urban District Council, Mr. Joseph Turner^[1].

Fifteen years before the Council had decided to fell the old tree and to remove the wall as it was believed to be a danger to the public by this time. Apparently, Council records showed that in 1865 the then surveyor had been instructed to preserve the tree. In 1913 it was also thought that the tree was public property but Miss Else of Lime Tree House confirmed it belonged to her. She asked for a sum that was considered reasonable for the land the tree stood on. Presumably, the First World War intervened before the Council got around to dealing with it^[2].

Whilst the tree was never replaced in the road, in 2018 a new tree was planted nearby.

References:

^[1] Mr. Turner is shown as the Surveyor in Kelly's 1916 Directory, officials. The first directory his name appeared in was Kelly's 1912 Directory.

^[2] "Derbyshire Courier", 13 December 1913. Meeting of Matlock UDC.