Matlock Bath, General View from The Heights of
Abraham |
Matlock Bath : Twentieth Century Photographs,
Postcards, Engravings & Etchings |
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The views from the Heights of Abraham are superb.
This picture was probably produced about 1914. It looks down into
Matlock Bath - towards South Parade, the Royal Hotel and the newly
built Kursaal (shortly to be re-named as The Grand Pavilion). Almost
in the centre of the picture, on the Heights of Jacob, is the Palais
Royal or Old Pavilion. The distant hill is Black Rocks, above Cromford.
The limestone escarpment of Cat Tor is centre left and the River
Derwent is in the valley below the Tor with the Switchback Railway
in the grounds of the Derwent Gardens just about visible. Temple
Walk and Orchard Road can also be seen.
William Adam had described
this view some 75 years before this card was printed. "Here
all is concentrated into one magnificent whole. The curved rocky
barrier, river, Bath, and numberless objects are placed beneath
the feet of the spectator"[1].
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"Matlock Bath: General View from the Heights of Abraham". "Celesque" Series,
published by the Photochrome Co. Ltd, London and Tunbridge Wells,
No. B.33161.
Postcard in the collection of, provided by and © Ann Andrews.
Written, researched by and © Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References:
[1] Adam, William (1840) "The Gem of
the Peak", London; Longman & Co., Paternoster Row, MDCCCXL
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