Local History

Errwood Hall

6th March 2017 by

Once the heart of a flourishing community, Errwood Hall was demolished in 1934 By Stockport Water Corporation to make way for nearby Fernilee Reservoir, along with almost everything else in the valley. Quite why the company felt the need to knock down an impressive Victorian mansion that was nowhere near the water is a matter of dispute. The most likely explanation is that they did not have the funds for its maintenance. Now little more than a ruin in a sea of rhododendron, the Hall still gets thousands of visitors every year, drawn to the mystique of the mansion in the woods. Slowly but surely, the building is being reclaimed by the wilderness and may one day vanish completely.

This was once the home of Samuel Grimshawe, a wealthy Lancastrian industrialist, who chose this beautiful location for his family to live. This lithograph from the museum’s collection was drawn by Errwood Hall’s Italian architect Alexander Roos in 1840, the year in which the majestic house was built. Did he or the Grimshawes imagine that it would stand for just 94 years?

[Read more…] about Errwood Hall

Butterley Gangroad: Fritchley Embankment

30th January 2017 by

You are exploring part of the Butterley Gangroad, first built in 1793 to link local quarries with the Cromford Canal. It was one of the first railways in the East Midlands, and maybe the world, where a steam locomotive operated successfully.

The Drying Ground provides a vantage point to see the well-preserved stretch of the stone embankment of the Butterley Gangroad dating back to the 1850s. The gangroad was built in 1793 to transport limestone from Crich to the Amber Wharf on the Cromford Canal at Bullbridge. Here the limestone was either burnt in the lime kilns or was loaded onto barges for onward transportation to the Butterley works at Ripley. The stone embankment seen today was constructed in the 1850s when the gangroad was re-aligned to remove most of the curves on the original route. The east side of the walled embankment was raised at some point with 70 of the original stone sleeper blocks on which the original platerails were laid.

*Fritchley Embankment 1930s. The original 1793 curving route ran through the two fields on the left side of the embankment.*

Butterley Gangroad: Fritchley Tunnel

30th January 2017 by

The Fritchley Tunnel is the world’s oldest surviving railway tunnel.

When the Butterley Gangroad was built in 1793 the line started the downhill descent from the mine (later opened up into a quarry) at Crich and ended at the Amber Wharf on the Cromford canal at Bullbridge after passing through Fritchley village. Here it passed under a road junction by means of a short tunnel about 90 feet long. The tunnel was constructed using the “cut and cover” method. A deep trench was dug, walls were built directly on the earth on either side, a former was put in place and an arch created over it. The ground was then restored above the arch. When the re-alignment of the line was undertaken in the 1850s the southern end of the tunnel was rebuilt using larger stones and a wider cross-section. the joint between the two areas of stomework was roughly made and had to be strengthened later by means of a blue brick buttress, partly due to the weight of the building above.

Matlock Bath, The Fishpond

14th December 2016 by

The Fishpond stands near to the Grand Pavillion, and some locals believe it to be smaller than it once was – however, this more likely to be a because the surrounding trees have grown larger around its edge.

Architect John Nuttall led the £11,000 construction of the Grand Pavilion in 1910 on the site of a former stables and blacksmiths yard next to the river Derwent. Later that year the Matlock and District Operatic Society performed there as well and the group are still performing today under the name of Matlock Musical Theatre.

Cromford, Comford Pond

7th December 2016 by

Publisher: B.B London Series, 1908.

This postcard is taken overlooking the pond in Cromford, and incorrectly states the location to be the “Bottom of the Fiagella” – This is believed to be typographic error. From the position of the postcard we can tell this was actually taken from the bottom of Water Lane, before it intersects Market Place. The postcard gets this misappropriation from the fact that Water Lane seamlessly becomes the Via Gellia as it crosses past Chapel Hill.

Matlock, Tram Shelter at Crown Square

7th December 2016 by

This postcard shows the Tram Shelter and Crown Square. The Tram Shelter was established 1899. The Crown Hotel first opened its doors in 1895, and was last a hotel in 1990. It was the hotel that gave its name into the square.

Matlock Cable Tramway was cable tramway that opened 1893 and closed in 1927. The tramway ran between Matlock railway station and the Hydro Spa Hotels of Smedley’s and Rockside. The tramway was financed by locally born newspaper owner Sir George Newnes.

Some of the original structure of the Tram Shelter exists today, as it was moved from the location in the postcard Hall Leys Park.

matlock_tramway_-_crown_square_tram_stop_06-08-06

For more information about the establishment and history of the Matlock Tram consult the andregen.com website

Local History

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