There were two toll bars on the main road running through Matlock
Bath, one at the southern end of the village and this one at
the northern end, below High Tor at Artists' Corner in Matlock
Dale. The toll house in the Dale replaced the toll house at
Holt Lane about 1833[1].
The specification shows the Matlock Dale replacement was to
be as similar to the Holt Lane building as possible. When the
Holt Lane house was demolished it was stipulated that the materials
were to be re-used, including the front doorcase which was
to be installed at the back of the "new" building.
Even the slate roof slates from the Holt Lane house were to
be salvaged. It seems to have continued to be called the Holt
Lane Gate[2].
A small number of contemporary images of this toll house
are in private collections and they show the other side of the
toll bar. The two storey toll building was reconstructed against
the wall of the right hand house of the block of three storey properties
next to it. The ground floor windows looked straight into the other
house. This possibly also explains why the end of the roof of the
block of three is cut away today. Presumably a short supply of
land along this strech of road meant there was little space to
build.
Several nineteenth century guide books mention the area around
the toll bar[3]. The
1840 edition of "Gem of the Peak", for example,
talks of "Fox's lodging house beside the toll bar"[3].
In the 1845 edition of "Gem" there is
a little more information, especially as more properties had
been built in the interim. "On proceeding into the Dale,
we come to, in succession, Mr. Chinnery's Cottages, then Dale
Cottage, beautifully situated, then a large house‡ by
the Toll Bar, a good building, and now the residence of Charles
Milnes Esq. Beyond this is seen ... Tor Cottage". The
shadow cast by the coach house of Tor
Cottage can be seen across the front of house on the far
left.
In a footnote to the page Adam added that: "‡We
regret to name that several small but heavy looking houses have
been recently erected here not at all in keeping with the scenery"[4].
The 1851 version of his book tells us that the large house by
the toll bar was "now the residence of _ Darwin, esq.,
solicitor"[5].
The task of toll keeper or collector wasn't always undertaken by
men. In 1841 Elizabeth Knowles was the toll bar keeper here and
thirty years later the job was being carried out by another woman,
Mary Greatorex of Common Wood[6].
In between then Mr. and Mrs. Phillips collected the fee at "Matlock
Bridge Gate"[7].
They were followed by the Dunns[8].
The toll gate was open in the photo; when closed it prevented vehicles
or people from passing through without paying a fee to reach their
destination. Some undoubtedly would have tried to get through and
avoid paying but occasionally a toll was demanded when an individual
was exempt. An example of this occured in 1872 when a Reverend G.
Taylor summoned Mary Greatorex, who had made him pay a toll on the
10th September which he believed he should not have paid. Taylor
was being conveyed to Winster by horse and gig as he was to preach
there by authority of the Wesleyan Conference. After some deliberation
the Chairman of the magistrates announced that the court had taken
the view that any minister could travel toll free to his church,
or to preach if he had been authorized to do so[9].
In 1879 we discover that "the bars on the road leading
through Matlock Bath and Matlock Dale are now gone, and so completely
swept away scarcely to leave a mark of the place where they have
stood for nearly a century past"[10].
A slight exaggeration here as the house was less than fifty years
old.
In some respects the scene has changed very little over the last
one hundred and forty plus years. The open space on the opposite
side of the road is a car park these days, but in the mid twentieth
century it was more of a park. Visitors then would buy trays of
tea from Wilson's shop and carry them across to the park where they
would sit and enjoy the view. Life was full of simple pleasures!
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