Educational Trust

MATLOCK BATH VOICES

A fascinating history of a Derbyshire village presented in words and pictures at the world famous Sir Richard Arkwright’s Masson Mills Visitor Centre.

This live performance is based on the descriptions of Matlock Bath from visitors and residents over the centuries, and pictures from a unique private archive. This is the story of a remote rural hamlet which grew to become a nationally famous Spa, before finding the place it holds today as the East Midlands’ favourite day-out destination.

A Celebration of the Belper Strutts in words and pictures

Jedediah Strutt, his sons and grandsons shaped Belper; at the same time managing and developing a business as large as any in the world. How should we remember them? What did they contribute to the Belper and Milford as we know them today? The words are from those who knew them and saw them live their lives. The images are as far as possible, of the period. Words selected by Christopher Charlton.

Belper Voices - Life in Belper in the Nineteenth Century - Volume Two

This is the Trust’s second book devoted to life in Belper in the nineteenth century. Thanks to the Trust securing generous financial support it is substantially larger than its predecessor. It retains the format that has become a hallmark of the Trust’s publications with copious illustrations and extensive quotations from contemporary sources. There is much in the book that breaks new ground. It features the extraordinary contribution to the development of the town, its administration and the shaping of its essential services by three generations of the Pym family. Other chapters describe the strategy the young town adopted to look after its poor creating a patchwork of individual philanthropy and self help while for those who sank into absolute poverty there was the workhouse. The building of the Belper Workhouse ( known now as the Babbington Hospital ) is described in detail. This account is accompanied by episodes from its later life as the Guardians who administered the Poor Law struggled with the challenges of unwelcome commands from London and disagreements within their own ranks as to where help was to be given. Should they, as the honourable Frederick Strutt demanded, deny money to the wives and families of men who were in prison? How the Guardians responded to this and many of Strutt’s other propositions is all in the book.

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Belper Voices - Life in Belper in the Nineteenth Century - Volume One

This is the first of two books describing life in Belper in the nineteenth century. These were the years that saw the town establish itself within the county as an administrative centre and, with its early railway connection, a flourishing horse-nail industry, and the seemingly inexorable growth of the Strutts' empire, what could go wrong? But the railway didn't bring investment; handcrafted nails were overtaken by those made by machine and then by imported products; and the mills contracted and were sold. The growth of the town stalled.

In this volume the focus is on the town's early transport links, skillfully enhanced by the Strutts; the coming of the railway; the rise and fall of the Belper horse-nailers and their union, with a detailed description of its black arts which included the use of dynamite to blow up those who challenged its rule; and an examination of the last unhappy years of the Strutts' business, culminating in the sale of the mills in Belper and Milford.

The book is generously illustrated and both the specialist and the general reader will find much to enjoy in these pages.

Matlock Bath - A Perfectly Romantic Place

Here is the story of Matlock Bath from its origin in the late seventeenth century to the recent past. At first, a remote rural spa, a century later, though still no more than a small village, its awesome scenery and mineral springs had become so highly regarded by fashionable visitors that it was spoken of alongside Bath, Buxton and Tunbridge Wells.