The tennis court and bowling green for Oldham House Hydro used to be on the north eastern side of Cavendish Road, close to the junction with Wellington Street on land previously called "Nursery"^[1]. We can see the older houses of George Road that were built on its boundary. Enlarging the picture shows a large gap in the boundary wall of the George Road houses and there is possibly a second higher up the hill. This may indicate that the first George Road houses had access to the tennis courts. The boundaries are shown as a solid line on old maps, but this may have not been the case on the ground.

To the left is another tennis court, presumably also belonging to the hydro. Similar pictures of the courts and green date from during and just after the First World War. There do not seem to be any references to tennis being played here afer 1918.

Tennis and bowls were first mentioned in the hydro's advertisements in 1909. The tennis players seen here were posing for the photo, as they are all facing the camera, and the bowls players are also stationary. Both groups have an audience as spectators are seated around the perimeter, on the rustic seating beside the tennis court and on deck chairs at the far end of the bowling green.

In the background, on the right, are properties on the Cavendish Road/Wellington Steet junction.

The advertisements below are ones of a series that were placed in newspapers in the 1909 and 1910 seasons, offering both tennis and bowls as pleasurable activities.

The annual garden party of Matlock Bank Methodist Circuit was held in the grounds of Oldham House Hydro in the later 1930s. The entertainment provided included bowls and tennis tournaments, followed by an evening concert in the ballroom. The last of these events took place in the summer of 1939^[2]. The former pleasure grounds are now covered by tarmac as the land has become a council car park.

See samples of their notepaper on Matlock: Letterheads of Local Businesses, 1900-1949 (4), N - R
The Vernon Lamb Archive, Hydros and Convalescing, Index has 15 photos of the hydro's staff and guests.

References:

^[1] See the link to Old Maps on our Useful Genealogy Sources page.

^[2] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 23 June 1939.