Wonders of the Peak

Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

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Matlock Bath, Views from the Heights of Abraham

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Publisher: Valentine “Colourtone” Series

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Publisher: Valentine “Colourtone” Series

These two postcards taken from what was once known as The Heights of Jacob, show The Heights of Abraham and Matlock Bath from very similar positions. The second postcard shows Riber Castle in the top right hand corner, and clearly being a later photograph. The Heights of Jacob is the area just off Upperwood Road and above what used to be the Palais Royal or Old Pavilion which is now Gulliver’s Kingdom. The Heights of Jacob were a Victorian creation. They seem to have been the idea of a local man, Jacob Raynes, who was the proprietor of Fluor Spar Cavern.

The large gasometer was on the far side of the railway track, near the station at the bottom of the Starkholmes hillside. This appears as red blocked building on the top right-hand corner of the scene.

For more photographs of this area and its it history consult the andrewgens.com website

 

View of Matlock Bath and Gullivers Kingdom

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Turn your gaze back over the river to the town itself. See if you can make out the row of shops and amusement arcades below, and the glare of the theme park towering high up on the opposite side of the gorge. You might even catch the smell of fish and chips wafting its way up the cliffs!

We have explored how the road to Nottingham opened up access to the village, but how did this change an aristocratic spa town into the one we see below us today?

In early the 18th century, Britain was in conflict with France. The resulting Napoleonic Wars made travel across Europe unsafe and discouraged the wealthy from taking continental holidays (known as ‘the Grand Tour’). Instead British travellers were diverted to places much closer to home. Dramatic British landscapes – such as the Peak District and Lake District – became very popular tourist destinations.

Soon, Matlock Bath saw the arrival of the railway, just 30 years after the toll road. With this came a completely different kind of visitor… the large, organised excursion had arrived!

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