This large property is next to the A6 at the southern end of Matlock Bath and overlooks Masson Mill on the opposite side of the road. It was built by John Edward Lawton, a Cotton Manufacturer from Manchester, who was in partnership with Frederic Charles Arkwright at one stage - their partnership was dissolved in 1890^[1] but Lawton continued to work at Masson Mill. He couldn't have chosen a better spot to watch over the mill workers' every move.

John Edward Lawton and his family arrived in Matlock Bath some time between 1887 and 1891^[2], although the webmistress has found a variety of suggested dates prior to 1887. Before then he was described as both a Cotton Spinner^[3] and a Yarn Agent^[1]; he and his partners had business premises in the city of Manchester at 3 Macdonald's-lane and 19 Cannon-street^[1]. In 1874 Mr. Lawton was named as secretary to Shaw Hall Spinning Company, Mottram Road, Shaw hall, Newton moor, Cheshire^[4]. The Lawton family lived at Dukinfield in a house also called Woodbank and they seem to have continued to own the property after moving to Matlock Bath^[5].

In 1897 Masson Mill became part of the English Sewing Cotton Company. By the 1901 census, when he was nearing the end of his tenure at Masson Mill, Mr. Lawton described himself as "Managing Director Sewing Cotton Co.^[6]". He is known to have lived at Woodbank until 1908^[7] although his association with Masson Mill had ceased some years previously. By 1912 the Co-operative Holidays Association owned the property and Miss Panton-Ham was the manageress^[8]. It was still called Woodbank in 1916, when Miss Brill was manageress, but after that it was no longer advertised in the trade directories^[9]. It was renamed Cromford Court and has retained that name ever since.

During the Second World War soldiers were billeted in the house but the house had suffered years of neglect when, in 1980, the New Tribe Mission became the owners and used the property as a Bible College for almost two decades. It is now under different ownership.

Julie Bunting recounts a story of Mr. Lawton's authoritarianism involving the lavish wedding of his daughter Mary to Hugh Crawford, a Scottish manufacturer, at Holy Trinity on 19 Jan 1898. Apart from insisting the workers wore suits to go to the "toast" at the Palais Royal, Julie writes that three foremen counted the minutes they were away from their work^[10]. Yet without Lawton's energy and drive perhaps Masson Mill would not have survived as a major employer in Matlock Bath until the end of the twentieth century.

John Edward Lawton had clearly built to impress as the house had 56 bedrooms. In the 40 acre grounds there are 2 large caves, as well as woodland and formal gardens.