Just occasionally the message on a postcard contains a really significant comment and in 1955 the top card's sender provides us with an insight into the conditions prevalent in Matlock at that time. The beginning of the message is run of the mill but it is the end that is revealing: "ample food - I shall have to be careful of weight! Very lovely scenery. Right on the edge of the park in fact overlooking the gardens and river. All very clean inside, but everything outside covered with a white dust from the blasting of the limestone". Limestone dust had been problematic for many years^[1] and for a long time the local politicians believed it to be healthy!

It is almost certain that the writer was staying at either the Derwent Temperance Hotel^[2] or in one of the properties on Derwent Avenue^[3] as both locations were close to the Railway Bridge and the former Greatorex's quarry, by then part of Derbyshire Stone. However, the Derwent Avenue guest houses would fit in better with the description of the view of the river and the gardens as well as the proximity to the park.

On the Photochrom stereoview, above are: The Gardens | Riber Castle Switzerland View Riber Castle and River Derwent | Crown Square (third image down)

The Gardens, shown in the second image, is a picture of the Hall Leys Park. There is a man in a waistcoat and rolled up shirt sleeves who is partly obscured by the next view on the card; he must have been a gardener and he is standing in some sort of gully. On a stand alone version of this scene we know he was talking to another man, who was wearing a suit.

The images on this Bourne publication are: Flower Gardens, Hall Leys Park | Riber Castle from Matlock Bath High Tor Riber Castle from Hall Leys | Parade, Matlock Bank. The last image title is rather odd as it shows Matlock's mediaeval bridge as well as part of the Bank.

In many respects it is a pity that this third card is not in colour as it would have shown off the floral displays in the Hall Leys. It is thought to date from the 1950s.

References (coloured links are to transcripts or more information elsewhere on this web site):

^[1] There is more about the limestone problems on Stone Quarrying in the Matlocks.
^[2] See Matlock Bridge, Pic Tor Walk, 1909 for more information about the Derwent Temperance Hotel.
^[3] General View of Matlock Bank and Bridge, 1911-14.