History
In 1698 warm springs were discovered and a Bath House was built. As the waters became better known, access was improved by the building of the bridge into Old Matlock and in 1783, the opening of a new entrance at the south of the valley. Princess Victoria of Kent's royal visit in 1831 confirmed Matlock as a society venue of the time. Ruskin loved it, and Lord Byron confirmed its romantic character, comparing it with alpine Switzerland, hence its nickname Little Switzerland. Erasmus Darwin had recommended the area to Josiah Wedgwood I for its beauty and soothing waters, and members of the families vacationed and settled there. Edward Levett Darwin, son of Francis Sacheverel Darwin, lived at Dale House in Matlock Bath, where he was a solicitor.
When the North Midland Railway opened in 1840, carriages plied for hire from Ambergate station. The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway ran a number of excursions, taking the passengers onward from Ambergate by the Cromford Canal.
Matlock Bath is now a designated conservation area with an Article 4 Direction in relation to properties, predominantly along North and South Parade.
Read more about this topic: Matlock Bath
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—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“What is most interesting and valuable in it, however, is not the materials for the history of Pontiac, or Braddock, or the Northwest, which it furnishes; not the annals of the country, but the natural facts, or perennials, which are ever without date. When out of history the truth shall be extracted, it will have shed its dates like withered leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)