"Bordering the river on the eastern side are some attractive public gardens known as the Hall Lees, one of the pleasantest of outdoor lounges.The wide smooth lawns are bordered with well chosen herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs. There are many seats and a pavilion for shelter in wet weather. A band plays here in summer, and for a small sum tennis, bowls, croquet, skittles and fishing can be enjoyed"^[1]. Trees and shrubs surround the bandstand these days^[2], although the flower border in the photograph is newly dug and contains no plants which indicates that the grounds had only recently be laid out.

A small crowd were listening to a Scottish band and the picture dates from very early in the 20th century. The Lion Foundry of Kirkintilloch made the bandstand for the town and it is still used for band concerts. Matlock's Brass Band was founded in the mid nineteenth century^[3], although the band stand was not to be erected for a further fifty years or so afterwards.

Football was played on the Hall Leys, though the ground the club used was a little further down, where the tram shelter stands today. The football club was to move a little later on to the area behind the pavilion; the Causeway Lane ground would have been used by Matlock's Cricket Club when this photograph was taken^[4].

References (coloured links are to transcripts and information elsewhere on this web site):

^[1] Ward Lock & Co's "Matlock, Dovedale, Bakewell and South Derbyshire", Illustrated Guide Books of England and Wales, Series 1926-7.

^[2] See About Matlock (Hall Leys section), where there is a recent photograph and more information.

^[3] The band marked its 150th anniversary in 2010. There is some onsite information about the band

^[4] Kelly's 1916 Directory provides the first reference to both the Athletic Club and the Football Club sharing the Causeway Lane ground with the Cricket Club. In their 1912 Directory only the Cricket Club is shown at the venue.