In 1887 Messrs Else & Sons received instructions to auction a number of " highly valuable Freehold building sites, most eligibly situated between the Old English Hotel and Brown's Temperance Hotel" on Dale Road. The Lots were to be of "a very convenient size, having frontages to the main road and are most desirable for the erection of villa residences of business premises"^[1]. They were to be built on what had been a meadow called Great Ship Loads in the 1848 Tithe Award^[2]. On an 1880 map the Rifle Range, which extended down to the County Bridge, was on this land.

In 1890 John Nuttall instructed Mr. Else to sell his land on the opposite side of the road, backing onto Holt Lane, with some restrictions on building at the south end^[3]. The 1899 OS map shows Great Ship Loads had been built on, with a cycle track on the land behind the shops and development had also taken place on the opposite side of the road, where all the greenery is in the bottom image.

The road itself has a marked curve, with a wide pavement on the shops side of the road, but a very narrow walkway on the opposite side. The row was not complete in 1889 because the premises opposite the Old English, on the corner of Old English Avenue and for many years known as Hunter's Grocery Shop, had not been built. It was, however, built and occupied by the time both these images were taken.

In keeping with almost all of Dale Road they are stone built. Nearest the camera are seven premises that have three storeys, with either large bay windows or box bay windows on the first floor; all these properties have dormers on the second floor. Most of the shops had awnings to protect the stock on show in their windows, although nowdays they are perhaps considered to be od fashioned. Although most premises did not display sign boards above their windows, the proprietors of many of the shops on Dale Road at the time are known.

The first shop on the right, with the young boy outside it and with paintings displayed on the walls inside the window, was the ten roomed studio of the artist and photographer William Nathan Statham and was called, appropriately, The Studio^[4]. It was the last shop of the row at first, with a gap between Statham's and Brown's Temperance Hotel (later the Matlock Club). For some years a low stone wall ran along the back of the pavement. It is not clear if the cycle track could be accessed from here as well as from Dewent Avenue. However, the track does not appear to have been used after 1910 and disappeared from the maps. The Picture Palace Cinema was then built on the land between the two.

Attracting considerably more attention from passers by was Gessey's confectionery next door. His family had arrived in Matlock before the 1901 census and Mr. Gessey senior opened a confectioners on Smedley Street. His son, Walter Ernest, ran the Dale Road shop. It might even be Mr. Gessey junior standing in the shop doorway, observing the women and children^[5]. He later moved to Tansley and Mr. Wallis, who sold shoes, took over the premises.

The third shop along was Holmes' furniture shop; Walter Holmes was a skilled cabinet maker. At first we thought there was a name above the shop's window but closer examination is disappointing as the viewer can only see the shadow made by the supports underneath the bay window.

Fourth along was the drapery of Elizabeth Eaton, with Kirkland's plumbers next and then the premises of Freeman Rice, a grocer and provision dealer. Then there was Goodson's Chemist's, next door to Evans' jewellers (where the clock is). All these shopkeepers lived above their shop premises. On the far side of Evans was a shop with a very large sign. This was Dyer's branch shop, who were based in Nottingham and who were were seeking "a Young Lady accustomed to drapery or similar business, as Manageress - a resident preferred"^[6]. This was a lock up shop, so the shopkeeper did not live above it. Next door was Mr. Basquil's Select Tailor's^[7].

In the top image we can see a delivery dray with a single barrel on it at the corner, outside Hunter's, but it is unclear what was being delivered. Yet in both the top and third picture on this page it is the Old English that commands the view.

The second postcard, first published in 1903, shows the back of the shops on the east side of Dale Road that are closest to Pic Tor. The gap between Statham's studio and Mr. Brown's Temperance Hotel, where the Cinema House was built almost a decade later, is clear. Statham's premises has a large extension on the back, presumably where he did his photographic work. The ribbon development along the road leading to Matlock Bath is extensive by this time, and commercial premises on Dale Road would have caught the passing trade rather more than development on the Bank, where large parcels of land were still fields.

Hall Leys park on the far side of the river was slowly being developed. There is a tent on the land, used for some of the shows that were allowed to be staged there. The park remains a major asset to this day.

The third image was taken close to what was then Holmes' furniture shop, and we can see the stone wall and the gateways of one of the properties on the left hand side of the road. The rubble stone wall closest to the camera was replaced later. There was no pavement on that side of the road, so householders would have had to step straight into the road when leaving their properties. Even today, the path on that side is very narrow.

References (coloured links are to on site transcripts):

^[1] "Derbyshire Times", 23 July 1887. By Messrs. Else and Son. Matlock Bridge, Derbyshire. Preliminary Announcement. ... Valuable Freehold Lots.

^[2] Matlock Tithe Award, 1848/9, Derbyshire Record Office. It was then owned by William Brodhurst and occupied by John Carden.

^[3] "Derbyshire Times", 9 April 1890. These buildings were required to be stone fronted or stone cased.

^[4] See, for example, the 1901 census | Kelly's Directory 1908 | Kelly's Directory 1916

^[5] Gessey family in the 1901 census on Smedley Street | Kelly's Directory 1908 | Kelly's Directory 1916

^[6] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 1 June 1907. The same advertisement appeared in other newsapers during May and June 1907.

^[7] See Matlock at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century