The top postcard shows the Tower viewed from slightly higher up the Masson hillside. In marked contrast to the stunning and very green view of the Tower and the distant hills, the message on the postcard, written in early December 1907, reads:

"arrived alright
its snowing beautifully just what we wanted to see"

Just over fifty years earlier The Derby Mercury reported some exceptional Spring weather in the Peak District. "On Tuesday before noon a party of Americans were walking on the Heights of Abraham at Matlock, ankle deep in snow, but with the sun inconveniently hot on their backs. At this time the weather was perfectly clear and fine, and the snow rapidly disappearing. There was a similar storm in this district on the 10th May, 1817, but nothing of the kind is remembered since, until this week^[1]".

In 1882 Samuel Sprinthall advertised the Heights of Abraham Pleasure Grounds, the Rutland Cavern and the Victoria Prospect Tower^[2]. He had just become the lessee.

A Ward Lock Guide published in the early 1930s described the Heights and its grounds. "The lower slopes are very thickly wooded, but higher there are unobstructed views. At the highest point (about 800 feet) is the Prospect Tower, which does not form part of a factory, whatever the critical visitor might think. But the view afforded at the top of the tower will disarm criticism. Originally intended as the Victoria Tower in compliment to the late Queen, it soon took the commoner name of Prospect^[3]". Mr. Sprinthall had passed away by this time; initially two of his daughters were in charge but a younger daughter took over from them and carried on the family business with her husband. She had married Theodore Aspey and the couple ran the Heights from 1929 until their elder son took over.

The man and woman in the second image seem to be standing outside the boundary wall. The ground is very steeply sloping, with the dry stone walls almost clinging to the hillside. They were not in a good state of repair. There is a sign at 45 degrees from the vertical to the right of them. Perhaps it was warning about old lead mining shafts.

The sepia version of the card (below) is, in many respects, a little clearer than the coloured image and provides a better view of the small single storey building in the bottom left hand corner.

A visitor to the Tower and the Heights of Abraham in April 1925 also visited the Cumberland Cavern. Although she also really enjoyed her visit she thought the Cumberland was "much finer than the Masson".

References:

^[1] "The Derby Mercury", Wednesday, May 11, 1853. The weather in the Peak.

^[2] "Derbyshire Courier", 15 July 1882 - one of several advertisements that year.

^[3] Ward Lock & Co's "Matlock, Dovedale, Bakewell and South Derbyshire", Illustrated Guide Books of England and Wales (1932-3).

You may like to view
Royal Visitors
Matlock Bath's Main Attractions
Inscriptions
See Chapter 4 of Hall's "Days in Derbyshire" (1863)

Elsewhere on the Internet
Heights of Abraham