One of many views of High Tor, but this pretty card also includes
Tor Cottage, which later became the High Tor Hotel. At
the bottom of the driveway is the former coach house to
Tor Cottage. The large doors to accommodate the carriages
can be seen[1].
A wheelwright's is on the strip of land next to the river;
this was, for many years during the nineteenth century,
run by the Martin family who lived in one of the houses
opposite[2].
In 1891 the Tophams were still at Tor House[3].
By 1901 the Heys were at the big house and the coachhouse was
not mentioned so was probably uninhabited. The Taylors
were at 1 Tor Cliff Cottages and Lydia Ramshall, the widow
of the Matlock Bath policeman
who investigated the Morrall murder, was at No.2[4].
Lydia went on to marrry Henry Martin. The two houses mentioned
are the pair on the bottom right of the postcard that join
onto the coach house.
The second image is a similar view of High Tor, with the River Derwent
at the foot of the rocky outcrop flowing away from the
camera towards Matlock Bath. The view down into the Dale
provides us with a better view of the wheelwright's premises[1] opposite
the entrance to Tor Cottage. There were gardens on the
river bank where the modern car park is today.
Whilst the third card was published by the same company as the top image
it is not quite the same view. We can see more of the posters on the little
hut in the blacksmith's yard on the left. Similar advertisements were sometimes
posted on the road side of the retaining wall. They were rather an eyesore by
today's standards. Colonel Robertson-Aikman had bought the property shortly
after the 1901 census was taken and owned the house for about nineteen years,
although he and his family were not always in residence. He died at The Ross, Hamilton Scotland, aged 88,
in 1948[5].
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