HIGH TOR VISITOR
PLAN YOUR VISIT
Location: On the A6, two miles south of Matlock for the Matlock Bath access point.
Visit: The Heights of Abraham, where you can take a spectacular journey by cable car to explore two show caverns, follow woodland trails and enjoy the magnificent view from the Treetops café and restaurant. For further information, visit the website: www.heights-of-abraham.co.uk
Refreshments: There is a good choice of pubs, cafés and restaurants in both Matlock Bath and Matlock to suit all tastes.
Matlock Bath: Matlock Bath nestles beneath limestone cliffs with the River Derwent flowing below, in a gorgeous wooded valley. It’s beautiful scenery, often compared to that of Switzerland. It has been a tourist attraction ever since visitors came to bathe in its thermal waters. As facilities started to improve, the visits made by Queen Victoria, in 1832 and 1844, enhanced its reputation further. When she visited in 1844, she ascended the Heights of Abraham on a donkey. Nowadays, visitors usually use the cable cars that first started to operate in 1984, or take the more strenuous option and walk. The main event of the year is the Illuminations and Venetian Nights, with plenty of fun for all the family who love to watch the decorated boats glide silently by along the river. Cliff-top firework displays take place on selected dates.
HIGH TOR
High Tor, with its magnificent views, dominates Matlock Dale and has been a popular tourist attraction since visitors first started coming to Matlock Bath during the 18th and early 19th centuries to benefit from the presumed cures of the thermal waters. At the time, the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Wars raged in Europe, making continental travel dangerous. Then in 1849, the railway arrived, bringing day trippers, which drove the wealthy patrons to the hydropathic establishments that started to spring up at Matlock.
This growing visitor pressure prompted the High Tor Grounds to be created and opened to the public by their owner, Peter Arkwright, the grandson of Sir Richard Arkwright, founder of the nearby mills at Cromford. Access was easy from both Matlock Bath and Matlock. New walks and a carriage ride to the summit were created, along with the cliff ledge path ‘Giddy Edge’, which has a sheer, unprotected drop on one side and is potentially very dangerous unless you have a very good head for heights. The main path across the Tor keeps well away from the edge.
In an area where lead mining had once been active, two lead mines reopened as official visitor attractions, but more recently have been closed due to health and safety concerns. In 1879, the Matlock and High Tor Recreation Company leased the grounds from the Arkwright family. They reopened the grounds in 1880, with a new entrance from Matlock Bath and a refreshment building on the summit, which, having proved very popular, was eventually burnt down and not replaced. Ownership of the grounds passed to Matlock Urban District Council in 1924, until 1974, when the District Council took over.
Derbyshire Dales District Council upgraded High Tor as part of the Matlock Parks Project. The project, completed in 2008, included woodland management, a new entrance at the Matlock Bath end near to the Cable Car Base Station, together with improvements to fencing, paths and viewing areas. Although a little effort is required to climb up the main path to High Tor, your reward will be stunning views and a walk like no other in Derbyshire.
