Description: Looking north-west from the carriage entrance to the Guildhall across the Market Place towards Iron Gate. The carriage entrance is formed by the base of the clock tower; the cast iron corner protectors shielding the stonework from damage by carriage wheels are prominent here.
Framed in the archway is the newly completed war memorial designed by Charles Clayton Thompson and featuring a bronze figure of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus in her arms (or, it has been suggested, a widowed mother holding her infant) set against a large Celtic cross with the inscription 'The Great War 1914-1918'. The sculpture was the work of George Arthur Walker (1861-1939) and the memorial was unveiled an 11 November 1924 (Armistice Day). The presence of wreaths here suggests this view was taken shortly afterwards - certainly the lighting looks to be low winter sun.
Surrounding the war memorial are market stalls, an obvious and enduring feature of the Market Place until they were transferred to the new Open Market on the Morledge in 1932.
Tram lines thread the stone setts in the foreground - these took Derby Corporation's electric tramcars down Derwent Street and on to the system's Nottingham Road route as far as Chaddesden. This line was in operation from 1908 until 1931.
To the rear of the war memorial the exposed gable end wall indicates that buildings on the corner of Iron Gate and the Market Place have been demolished in readiness for construction of the new Barlow and Taylor department store building. This was completed in 1925.
Derby-based postcard publisher F W Scarratt took this photo and allocated it the number 1181 in his series.