There was a time when small children and adults alike flocked to see the wonders created by water dripping onto a variety of objects, changing them into stone. The card above, dated 1932, shows just some of the items that were petrified in 'The Great Petrifying Well' at Matlock Bath. The Great Petrifying Well was one of several in the village.

The Royal Museum Petrifying Well was run by the Smith family of Matlock Bath, who had a Spar and Marble Works. They ran the shop opposite the well, which sold items made from Blue John and other local stone. The admission charge to the Petrifying Well was, for quite a while, 'One Penny'.

The first Trades Directory entry found for a member of the Smith family advertising as a spar and marble worker is in Kelly's Directory of 1864.
Earlier onsite directories give the names of other petrifactioners

An early visitor to one of the petrifying wells was the eight year old Elizabeth Barrett, who later married Robert Browning. She describes the what she saw in a poem she wrote following the family's visit in 1814.