Masson Mill proclaims Arkwright’s growing
wealth and self
confidence. Unlike the mills at Cromford, it is
built on a
major river, the river Derwent, which offered Arkwright
the
opportunity of a power source ten times greater
than he
enjoyed at his Cromford site. Externally, its design
reflects a
deliberate movement towards conscious architectural
style,
and its overall layout, incorporating the staircase
and
ancillary services in a central projection leaving
production
floors uncluttered, was an important advance on
the early
‘Cromford’ style mills. Constructed
in brick on a gritstone
base, with stone quoins and window dressings, the
original
21 bay 5 storey building was 43.8 metres long and
8.4
metres wide.
The central 3 bays are advanced and have been given
a
decorative architectural treatment with a small
lunette
window between Venetian windows on each floor.
It is
capped with a cupola beneath which hung the mill
bell. The
mill was powered by a single waterwheel which,
by 1801,
had been replaced by two, a system which continued
(with
replacement wheels by Wren and Bennet in 1847)
until turbines were installed in
1928. In its original form,
the mill was built with a high
parapet which concealed a
low pitch roof but probably
at the same time as the
second wheel was added c.
1800, the roof was raised, as
a result of which the mill
acquired a useable sixth
storey.
Buildings were added to the north and west of the mill by c.1835, some of which were subsequently demolished. In 1911, 1928, and more recently in 1998, extensions were added in Accrington brick. The mill chimney dates from 1900, and this and the engine house were the work of Stott and Sons, the famous mill architects. The mill has been extensively repaired and restored recently. The mill is now home to a museum and a retail village.
Masson Mill has an outstanding landscape setting in the wooded valley of the river Derwent, enhanced by a weir which is unusual on account of its convex shape. It is thought to have been built in this form because of the underlying rock structure at this point in the river. It is likely to have been an early addition to the Masson site, if not contemporary with the mill itself. The earlier paper mill on part of this site would not have justified the construction of a weir on this scale.
Unlike the mills at Cromford, the building of Masson Mill did not lead Arkwright to construct workers’ housing nearby. Most of those who worked in the mill lived either in Cromford in houses owned by the Arkwrights or in settlements nearby such as Matlock Bath or Bonsall. There is some evidence that cottage accommodation was created near the mill to take advantage of the economic opportunity created by its success. In 1784, Thomas Pearson began building a cluster of cottages close by. His son-in-law made later additions. A short row of formerly back-to-back houses at South End survives from this development.
