"Parish" or the town quarry was on Dale Road opposite the footbridge across the river at the beginning of the twentieth century^[3] and limestone was quarried here; it became known as the Harvey Dale quarry. Next door to it, behind the Boat House Hotel, was Holt Quarry. The two quarries eventually merged^[6] and by 1941 the quarry was listed under the ownership of Derbyshire Stone Ltd. who were big employers in the district^[1941].

At different times over the years there must have been other Parish Quarries. In 1848 there were five; Lumshill, the Wishing stone area, Jackson Tor, Harvey Dale and a piece above Starkholmes. At the time, Holt, accessed via the lane by the Rock Inn, was owned by Wm Smith & Brother and occupied by Wm Webster^[7].

Cawdor quarry, to the north-west of Matlock and beside the railway line, was also quarried for limestone. Early maps show quarrying activity on either side of Bakewell Road^[8]. In 1854 the quarry, part of the Megdale estate, was owned by George Nuttall and leased by his friends Sir Joseph Paxton and Job Knowles. The quarry was subsequently left to Knowles, subject to conditions of the lease and with the proviso that Knowles should not "injure destroy or interfere with the road leading to Megdale"^[9]. Interestingly, at the end of the nineteenth century the quarry was considerably bigger and was much closer to the Megdale property. Megdale was to survive a further fifty or so years before it finally disappeared from the Masson hillside. It was still shown on maps in the 1950s but had gone from the landscape before 1967^[8].

The Matlock Bridge Limestone Company had taken over at Cawdor by 1886 and in 1891 William Edward Constable & Co were listed as tar paving contractors there; their stone was used in asphalt macadam.^[1891] Constable's quarrying activities at Cawdor eventually became part of Derbyshire Stone.

At the beginning of the twentieth century Josiah Smart took "the field between the station and the Snitterton road, which overlies the limestone rock"^[3]. Smart advertised as a tar paving contractor at Matlock; he also owned Station Quarry, close to the railway tunnel entrance at Matlock Bath^[10]. By 1922 the Station Quarry in Matlock had expanded considerably and by the maps of 1967 Cawdor and Station quarry were almost joined, extending almost to the edge of Snitterton Road. The two quarries were operating as one concern by 1931^[11]. By the 1970s the Hall Dale quarry, slightly higher up on the Masson hillside between Snitterton Road and Salter Lane, had also become large; it is no longer quarried.

Other names listed as quarry owners in Matlock Directories over the years include John William Wildgoose of Matlock and Thomas Twyford, who lived in Matlock Bath^[12].

Derbyshire Fluor Spar Co. Ltd. were mineral merchants at High Tor works in Matlock Dale 1932^[1932]. Quarrying for fluor spar also took place in the Upperwood area of Matlock Bath and in what had been the grounds of the original Matlock Bath Pavilion^[13]. However, fluor spar was mainly mined and lead was found amongst the fluor spar rock.

Whilst providing both employment and building materials for local people, it was the existence of the large quarries that prevented Matlock from being included in the Peak District National Park. Many will recall the warning whistle followed by the thump of the blast, the dust that seemed to cover everywhere and the large lorries with their massive tyres thundering along the narrow local roads.

The conflict between need and nature is highlighted in the poem by the English poet John Betjeman, a visitor to nearby Chatsworth and a friend of the Duke's family, in his poem entitled 'Matlock Bath'^[14] . On 31 March, 1999 a newspaper article by Linus Gregoriadis was published in The Independent which also drew attention to conservation matters and used the extract below from Betjeman's poem^[15].

From "Matlock Bath"
by John Betjeman^[14]

How long before the pleasant acres
Of intersecting Lovers' Walks
Are rolled across by limestone breakers,
Whole woodlands snapp'd like cabbage stalks?
O God, our help in ages past,
How long will Speedwell Cavern last?

There's a story behind the poem. In the early part of the twentieth century George Drabble owned the saw mills near Matlock Bath station and Josiah Smart the quarry. At some stage it was proposed to extend the quarry near the station. If the plan had been carried out a whole section of hillside would have been removed and the Lover's Walks beside the River Derwent would have disappeared.

The huge Cawdor quarry is no longer operational and the site has now been put to other uses.

There's another photograph showing the extent of the quarry, and showing the impact on the landscape, at the bottom of this page.

Matlock Bath's quarries also included the former Long Tor Quarry on Dale Road (see right). The Shaw brothers, who were involved with the Dale Road and Holt quarry in Matlock, owned Long Tor quarry at the beginning of the twentieth century but could not make it a going concern^{[6, 15]}. It was later run by first George Crowther and then by Job Greatorex^[16].

A quarry on Temple Road, shown as no longer in use on very early OS maps, also existed at some stage and stone was also removed from behind what is now North Parade. The quarry face is especially obvious behind the former Derwent Terrace Chapel.

Tufa stone from Matlock Bath's tufa shelf has also been quarried over the years and used for both garden rockeries and for building (see right)^[17].

Finally, there was a recruitment drive for school leavers in the aftermath of the Second World War and in 1946 an Industrial Exhibition was held at the Grand Pavilion Matlock Bath. Derbyshire Stone was amongst the exhibitors hoping to attract youngsters to join the company. Below is a page from the exhibition catalogue.
More about the exhibition