Florence Nightingale Trail - Cromford Bridge House
Cromford Bridge
Derbyshire
England
Cromford - Cromford Bridge House belonged to Florence's great uncle Peter and was part of the vast estate he bequeathed to his nephew William Edward Shore (Florence's father), who then changed his surname to Nightingale. William's mother Mary was born Mary Evans, and became Mary Shore when she married. Mary had a spinster sister, Elizabeth Evans, who was Florence's great aunt. Florence was very fond of Great Aunt Evans, who lived here at Cromford Bridge House. A letter of 14th December 1839 to Fanny Nightingale from Maria Coape, another of Florence's great aunts, noted how Florence's beautiful footstool had arrived at Mrs Evans' house. Perhaps it was a Christmas present, and may have been the one that remained at Lea Hurst into the 1970s.
Florence used to visit her great aunt every other day and in 1852 when Aunt Evans became ill Flo cancelled a trip to Paris to nurse her. Florence recalled that: 'The greatest delight of those days was our visits to my dear old Aunt in the valley... She lived in the most perfect of the Derbyshire old houses, with its paved terrace and its flight of stone steps overlooking the dashing River - with the Virginia creeper over its roof, which in Autumn was a perfect sheet of fire twisting with a broad-leaved Vine in & out of the old mullioned windows.'
This house is private property and not available for inside viewing.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Click on Florence to go to the trail locality 
Do read Florence Nightingale and the Malvern Water Cure, by Cora Weaver (2016), 28 pages, 14 illustrations, A5 format as illustrated above. Send a cheque payable to Cora Weaver to Cora at 4 Hall Green Malvern Worcs WR14 3QX for £4.49 inc, p&p; with your name and address.
2) LANDSCAPE:
Uplands
3) INFORMATION CATEGORY:
History & Heritage
