Listed Building record MDR11712 - Collingwood Lodge (originally Tor Cottage), Dale Road, Matlock Bath

This building was originally named Tor Cottage and retained that name for over 60 years, before becoming firstly High Tor Guest House, then the High Tor Hotel and most recently Collingwood Lodge. The land for the cottage was purchased in 1827 by Colonel Edward Payne and the cottage, once built, was leased and then, in 1833, sold to William Bagnald, along with its coach house, stable, outbuildings, shrubberies etc. It was occupied from at least 1835 by the Collingwood family and purchased by Henry Collingwood in 1840. However, there is no evidence that this family were related to Admiral Collingwood or that he ever had any association with this property, as was proposed in the 1930s. A deed of 1844 refers to the buildings having been 'recently very greatly enlarged and improved at considerable expense' and the kitchen block and the south-west wing of the house were probably added by this time. A sale catalogue of 1855 details Tor Cottage and shows it to have consisted of an entrance hall, dining room, drawing room, library, breakfast room, bathroom, kitchen, back kitchen, larder, butler's pantry, three cellars and a spirit closet. The first floor had a gallery, seven bedrooms, two dressing rooms, a water closet, a hot water closet and two other closets. Eight servants' bedrooms and store rooms were on the second floor. The house was sold by the Collingwoods in 1858. A billiard room and ice well had been added by 1861. Following various sales, the building was used to house a small school, Matlock Garden School, open by 1922 and then, after standing empty for several years, it was opened as a ramblers' hostel and guest house in 1933 'equipped to accommodate seventy guests in conference or on holiday'. Improvements to the accommodation continued to be made throughout the 20th century; however, the guest house/hotel business finally closed in the early 1990s. Examination of the building, in order to understand its development, found that the improvements referred to in 1844 in fact represented the second major alteration to the house, and not the first, and also noted that it was difficult to reconcile the sale catalogue description of the numbers of bedrooms on the first and second floors with the building details. (1)