The Temple Hotel was originally an annexe to the Old Bath Hotel (Adam, p.40^[1]). Adam talks of the poet Lord George Byron staying at the Old Bath as a very young man^[1] and he was in Matlock Bath whilst unsuccessfully wooing Mary Chaworth^[2], etching his name on a windowpane at the Temple.

Ebenezer Rhodes wrote, in 1824, that "In addition to the inns there are many comfortable lodging houses, the principal of which is kept by a Mrs. Evans, and known by the name of the Temple. This excellent house stands in a retired situation on the side of the lower part of Masson, and is certainly one of the most delightful residences in the place. It is connected with the Old Bath by a spacious terrace carried along the side of the hill, which forms a most delightful promenade^[3]". The promenade that Rhodes was describing was Temple Walk.

Mrs. Hester (Esther) Evans (nee Shore) is listed at the Temple in early trade directories^[4] and lived there with her son Walter Mather Shore Evans^[5], an Attorney. She was the widow of Aneas (or Eneas) Evans who had died in 1813; the couple had married at Bakewell on 12 Nov 1792. By 1842 the directories described the Temple as a family hotel^[4] and the Evans family were involved with running the hotel for most of the nineteenth century^[6], often listed as "Hester Evans & Co."^[4]. Esther Evans died in 1849, aged 82^[7] and Walter died in 1876. His kinsman John inherited the hotel and lived there until his death in 1889. Towards the end of the century James Hand and then, a little later, John Barker were the licensees.

This particular view of the Temple Hotel is of interest to the webmistress because her father painted the sign at the gable end. Hotel names were also painted on rooftops and the remnants of the Temple's name is still visible in this picture.

In the 1950s and 1960s Mr. and Mrs. Trippett ran the Temple. Whilst this writer is unsure how long they kept it up, the couple very generously hosted several annual Christmas parties for local school children in the bar on the ground floor. The parties were considered a great treat at the time.

  The Temple photographed in 2001.

Temple Hotel's website (an external link, so it will open in a new window)