A report on Matlock, Derbyshire

It has a county council based in Matlock and eight district councils and since 1997, a unitary authority area of the City of Derby.

The towns of Glossop, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Buxton, Macclesfield, Leek, Ashbourne, Matlock and Chesterfield are on the national park's fringes.

However, the river has also seen many human uses, and between Matlock and Derby was one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution.

Running north-west from Luton, the road passes through Bedford, bypasses Rushden, Kettering and Market Harborough, continues through Leicester, Loughborough, Derby and Matlock before passing through the Peak District to Bakewell, Buxton, Stockport, Manchester, Salford, Pendleton, Irlams o' th' Height, Pendlebury, Swinton, Wardley, Linnyshaw, Walkden, Little Hulton, Westhoughton, Chorley, Preston, Lancaster, Kendal and Penrith before reaching Carlisle.

Nearby towns include Matlock to the south-east, Chesterfield to the east and Buxton to the west north-west.

It lies in the Peak District, south of Matlock on the main A6 road, and approximately halfway between Buxton and Derby.

Buxton's profile was boosted by a recommendation from Erasmus Darwin of the waters there and at Matlock, addressed to Josiah Wedgwood I. The Wedgwood family often visited Buxton and commended the area to their friends.

The town is also near to the towns of Matlock, Uttoxeter, Leek, Cheadle and Bakewell.

By traditional definitions, Derby is the county town of Derbyshire, although Derbyshire's administrative centre has in recent years been Matlock.

The district was a merger of Ashbourne, Bakewell, Matlock and Wirksworth urban districts along with Ashbourne Rural District and Bakewell Rural District.