| Matlock Bath and the Heights
of Abraham, about 1898 |
| Matlock and Matlock Bath, Eighteenth and Ninteenth Century Photographs, Postcards, Engravings & Etchings |
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The view from the Station Approach looking towards the opposite hillside
of Masson and the Heights of Abraham. Perhaps the horse and its driver
were waiting for passengers. The stone built hotel facing the cameraman
is The County and Station. To the left of the hotel Holme Road climbs
up the hill. Although it is mostly hidden behind the trees, the shop
at the bottom of Holme Road on the opposite side was William Bryan's
drapery. Then there is a small shop that was a butchers in the 1950s.
Showing over the left hand gable of The County and Station is a two
storey building with three windows on the first floor; these were
originally stables and carriages were stored there. The square yard
in the front was cobbled and gently sloping with a drain in the middle
- which, presumably, was where they washed the carriages. In the 1950s
the upper floor of this building used to be a men's club where they
played billiards. The entrance was up a small trackway beside a general
store (Dolly's) that also led to the workshop my father rented for
his business use and where the set pieces for the Venetian Fêtes
of the 1950s were created.
This card almost certainly dates from the end on the 19th century
as properties on Holme Road, which appear in the 1901 census, had
not been built. The Clarence is unmistakable, but Rockvale Villas
is not shown. The terrace of houses was not built 1895 and was first
mentioned in a directory in 1899. The Clarence, incidentally, was
Matlock Bath's Hydropathic Establishment. |
The "National" Series (Printed in Britain) Inland Postage
1/2 d. Foreign Postage 1d.
Postcard in the collection of, provided by and © Ann
Andrews Intended for personal use only
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