It is a common truism that the inhabitants of the English Midlands, being with the exception of those from Lincolnshire without a coastline, will turn anywhere with water into the seaside.
Whilst this is true of many canal and riverside towns in the west of the region such as Stourport-on-Severn and Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire, as well as Stratford-upon-Avon. The trait inarguably achieves its apex at Matlock Bath on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District in the eastern half of the region.
Situated in a deep limestone dale, enhanced by the River Derwent which flows through a tight channel at the bottom, anyone descending upon Matlock Bath would be forgiven for thinking that they’d stumbled upon a seaside town. Being confronted as they are by a long promenade lined with fish n’ chip shops, amusement arcades, ice cream and candy floss shops, caffs, pubs, sideshows and little lanes rising steeply off the main drag.
The illusion that this is the Cleveland coast, Lyme Regis or somewhere on the northern edge of the South West Peninsular, is spoiled by the fact that there are cliffs towering above visitors on two sides of the vista, the only water not in bottles is the swiftly flowing Derwent and the fact that Matlock Bath is slap bang in the centre of England at least 60 miles from the sea.
Once rather isolated and difficult to get to, Matlock Bath was first promoted as a spa in the late 17th Century with the first bathhouse opening in 1698. Visitor numbers increased later in the 18th Century with the opening of a bridge improving connections with the town of Matlock, itself then growing in prominence as a spa. In 1783 improvement to the road that is now known as the A6 at Cromford, where a wide new carriageway was cut through a limestone outcrop just north of the village heralded the development of Matlock Bath as a truly popular resort.
The road widening was due to the industrialisation of the area. In 1770 Richard Arkwright’s company opened the first modern factory, a water powered cotton mill at Cromford. This set-off the late 18th and early 19th Century water powered mill boom across the hilly uplands of the northern Midlands and North of England. With the Derwent Valley being a key locus point.
In time the creation of the working class and their demands for leisure time would turn Matlock Bath into the wonderfully eccentric and eclectic inland resort that it remains to this day, but initially it attracted all manner of literary luminaries. In the Georgian era Erasmus Darwin – ever the physician – recommended the waters and their healing qualities to Stoke pottery tycoon Josiah Wedgwood. During the 19th Century local aristocrat, dissident and poet Lord Byron was a visitor, as a generation of two later was John Ruskin. In true Regency and Victorian fashion this type of visitor christened the tall craggy limestone cliffs and resulting dale “a little Switzerland”.
As soon as the railway network reached Ambergate around 6 miles south as Matlock Bath in 1840 excursion carts began pulling wagon loads of excursion visitors along the A6 on holiday visits. Supposedly even the Cromford Canal got in on the act with visitors being taken by waters to their terminal wharf at Cromford situated only a mile or so from Matlock Bath.
Eventually in the 1850s with the full opening of the railway between Buxton and Ambergate via Bakewell and Matlock, Matlock Bath got its own station. Which exists to this day as the penultimate stop on the Derwent Valley Line between Derby and Matlock. It’s buildings are in an appropriately Alpine style and to this day is served by a small number of trains from Nottingham potentially carrying daytrippers and holidaymakers.
Nowadays the resort is as busy as ever and a venerable – albeit slightly bonkers Midlands institution. Family members recall being taken on school trips there in the 1960s and 1970s, and a visit today on a weekend or a holiday will find the place thronged with families of all ages, shapes and sizes, motorcycle clubs, reunions and gatherings of all sorts out having fun along the promenade beside the A6 and the River Derwent.
The heritage value of the promenade has been recognised by Derbyshire Dales District Council who have declared it a conservation zone. Not that this has choked off innovation and change in Matlock Bath. Like any good seaside resort the old style of arcade, fish ‘n chip shop and pub jostles with smart new enterprises which put a new spin on old kinds of recreation. In 1984 the Heights of Abraham cable car opened to take visitors up to the showcaves at the top, something visitors have enjoyed since at least the 18th Century. One of the oldest kinds of mass tourism retooled and made accessible for the modern age.