Stanley Clough would only have had to step a few feet out of his garage forecourt to take this picture of Holy Trinity Church and pick his moment when Derby Road was deserted. On the right, opposite the entrance to both Clifton Road and the New Bath Road, is a small cabin where tickets for the Royal Cumberland Cavern could be purchased. Rock, sweets and refreshments were also sold there^[1]. Clifton Cabin was run by Mrs. Jessie Edmonds of Portland House, whose husband ran the cavern, and amongst the things she sold were dolls and walking sticks.

For many years this had been a spar shop, with a petrifying well at the rear. Its water was supplied from the same source as the Portland House fountain (see both Derwent Gardens from the River Derwent and Winter Scenes, 1947. It is the only building on this side of the road for some distance in either direction. The cabin fell into disrepair, but was renovated some years ago.

As for the Church, during the early hours of the morning in January 1941 the roof was damaged during high winds. One the pinnacles of the tower became dislodged and crashed on to the roof. Some of the masonry penetrated the roof, making a hole 3-4 feet square, and then fell into the porch below. As nothing inside the church was damaged, services were able to continue following the roof repair^[2].The incumbent at the time was Rev. Arthur Phibbs (1877-1954) who lived at the vicarage in Brunswood Road. He left the parish in 1944, after serving as Matlock Bath's vicar for about ten years.

The fir trees on the left disappeared with the road widening of the 1960s and early 1970s, when the road behind it that led to the New Bath was narrowed to a footpath. However, the section of Derby Road on the far side of the Clifton Road junction to just past the Temple Road turning was unable to be widened!

The same photograph was printed in the Matlock Guides of the early 1950s.

Holy Trinity Church, Matlock Bath - Memorial Inscriptions in the Church
Holy Trinity Church, Matlock Bath - Memorial Inscriptions in the Churchyard
Finding the Churchyard Inscriptions
Matlock Bath Burials, 1845 - 1866
Matlock Bath Holy Trinity Banns, from 1846

References:

^[1] Recollections of the late Mr. Frank Clay, from private papers and notes owned by Mrs. Doreen Buxton, some of which were written in 1992 and are still within copyright.

^[2] "Derbyshire Times", 24 January 1941. Church Damaged. Matlock Bath Pinnacle Crashes Onto Roof.