Matlock:
Dale Road, Boat House Hotel - Stables & Scout Rooms |
Matlock : Twentieth Century Photographs, Postcards,
Engravings & Etchings |
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Several properties along the Dale Road had large double wooden
doorways with the curved tops that served as coach houses in
former times including those nearest the camera belonging to
the Boat House Hotel, the building on the far right with the
name Hardy's on it. The property had an outside staircase on
the side away from the camera and the 4th Matlock Scout Troop
used the upper floor for their weekly meetings. The building
was eventually demolished and the land it stood on is now a
car park[1].
Various early twentieth century advertisements announced that
the Boat House provided good stabling and a garage. Unfortunately,
in August 1906 there was a fracas at the stables, which were
then used by the cab proprietor Horace George Donegani of Matlock
Bath. Two labourers from the Derwent Valley Waterworks Scheme,
who had been drinking at the hotel, went to the stables and asked
if they could spend the night there. Mr. Donegani's groom, whose
surname was Norbury, refused the request. Mr. Donegani was also
present and at some point was slightly wounded on the hand by a
knife which one of the inebriated men had drawn from his pocket
(and later hidden in his coat). Although the two drunks went on
their way, Mr. Donegani followed them on his bicycle; when he came
to the police they were arrested and taken into custody. The two
men at least had somewhere to spend the night, even if it wasn't
quite what they envisaged. Both were prosecuted, one of them for
an unprovoked assault an the other for being drunk. P.C. Laidlaw
commented that he had never heard such foul language[2]..
Earlier the same year Matlock's second annual May Day Parade
had taken place and was deemed a success. There were several
cab proprietors involved, including F[rank] Donegani of Matlock
Bath, the brother of Horace, and it was agreed that they had
put on a good display and various competitions. These included
a class for carriage proprietors (one horse and carriage) and
both Frank and Horace, the latter of the Boat House Livery Stables,
took part[3]. The
departure of Horace Donegani left a gap and there were several
applications for his bus business between Matlock and Cromford[4].
More images of the Boat House
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"River Derwent & Dale Road, Matlock", published
by Lilywhite of Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire and is numbered MAT.
11. Difficult to date,
but likely to be early 1930's.
Postcard in the collection of, provided by and © Ken Smith.
Image scanned for this website and information researched by and
© Ann Andrews.
Intended for personal use only.
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References:
[1] The stable block was included on both
the 1:2,500 Ordnance Survey map for 1967 and the 10:5,600 map of
1971-2 but not on later versions.
[2] "Derbyshire Advertiser and
Journal", 17 August 1906. Serious Assault at Matlock.
[32] "Derbyshire Times",
5 May 1906. Matlock on May Day. Another Successful Parade.
[4] "Derbyshire Courier", 20
July 1907.
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