Matlock
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Matlock (disambiguation).
Image:Matlock Town.jpg Template:GBmap Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. A former spa town, it lies on the River Derwent, and has prospered from both the hydrotherapy industry and the mills constructed on the river. It was an unimportant collection of small villages — Matlock Town, Matlock Green, Matlock Bridge, Matlock Bank — until thermal springs were discovered in 1698. The population increased rapidly in the 1800s, largely due to hugely popular hydros being built. At one stage there were around twenty hydros, most on Matlock Bank. The largest was built in 1853 by John Smedley. This closed in the 1950s, when it became home to Derbyshire County Council. Matlock is also home to the Derbyshire Dales District Council as well as Matlock Town Council.
In 1893 a cable tramway was built along Bank Road, from Crown Square at Matlock Bridge to Wellington Street, with, half way up, a stop at Smedley Street where Smedley's Hydro (built by John Smedley) was situated. Conceived by Job Smith, the tram was inspired by San Francisco's famous cable cars, and cost £20,000. When it was built it was the steepest tramway in the world at a gradient of 1 in 5½, and it rose 300 feet. The fare was tuppence up, penny down. It closed in 1927 after losing business to cars and buses.
The tram shelter from Crown Square is now in Hall Leys Park, a large Victorian park next to the river which opened in 1898. The park boasts a miniature railway, bandstand and a boating pond, with the oldest running powered boats in Britain, for many years, as well as tennis courts and a war memorial. There is an ongoing project to update and upgrade all the parks in the Matlock area - Hall Leys Park was the first to benefit from this and the children's play area has been greatly modernised. There has also been a skateboard park added replacing grass tennis courts. The park hosts the Matlock Victorian Christmas Weekend on the first weekend of each December.
Matlock lies at the south eastern edge of the Peak District, and is twinned with Eaubonne in France. Matlock Bath lies immediately south of the town.
Matlock has a growing reputation for the creative and performing arts which was enhanced in 2004 when the annual arts festival Matlock Live! began. It takes place in June or July each year.
The 2004 film by Shane Meadows, Dead Man's Shoes was filmed in and around Matlock, as have epsiodes of Peak Practice, which is based in nearby Crich.
Railways
Matlock railway station was on the Midland Railway line between London and Manchester, until the section between Matlock and Buxton was closed in 1968 during the Beeching Axe. Trains still run between Matlock and Derby on the Derwent Valley Line, and Peak Rail is a preserved railway which runs trains on a section of the closed line between Matlock, Darley Dale and Rowsley. It is hoped that Peak Rail will be able to share the mainline station in 2006 - they currently have their own station, Matlock Riverside station some distance further North.