Cromford Mill was the world’s first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill.
The Cromford Mill Complex was built on an elongated site, constricted by cliffs to the north and south. It comprises a series of linked mills, and warehouses and workshops built between 1771 and 1790. Severe perimeter gritstone buildings enclose and define the mill yard, their height and the paucity of ground floor windows providing tangible evidence of a concern for the security of the works. The area as a whole presents an unusually complete picture of an early textile factory complex.
Richard Arkwright and his partners leased a small site in Cromford close to an existing corn mill in August 1771. It was served by the Bonsall Brook and by the water from the Cromford Sough, a lead mine drainage channel, neither of which produced a large volume of water but which had the advantage of offering a constant supply with minimal seasonal variation. The first buildings on the Cromford Mill site were the upper mill, a weaver’s workshop (demolished when the first mill was extended) and some cottages, the remnants of which survive in building 24 (see plan).
The upper mill, in its original form, contained
11 bays with external dimensions of 28.5 metres
x 7.9 metres; it was five storeys in height. It
was built of coursed gritstone and was lined with
a skin of brickwork. It was entirely traditional
in its construction, with timber beams and roof
members and sash windows. A water-colour representation
of the mill indicates that it bore a cupola for
the mill bell on the roof at the southern end.
In the late 1780s the mill was extended by 4 bays
and an additional power source added. It is a simple
functional structure with few concessions to architectural
style save for the original main entrance - what
Richard Arkwright called the “First door” -
which has a fine Gibbsean doorway, and the mill
windows which have slightly arched wedge lintels
with voussoirs; the central bays project forward
slightly on the elevation which faces towards Cromford.
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A fire in 1929 removed the two upper storeys of the building after which it was re-roofed in asbestos sheet and returned to use manufacturing colour pigments. Recent research suggests that the mill was, from the beginning, powered by an overshot wheel with water brought to it by aqueduct. Such an aqueduct would have passed narrowly above Richard Arkwright’s “First door”, quite spoiling the effect of the fine masonry; but given the choice, it is entirely characteristic of the man at this stage of his career that the power source was considered more important than the architecture.
Richard Arkwright used the five years between
the construction of his first Cromford Mill and
the planning of the second to develop his mechanised
cotton spinning processes, and the size and scale
of the second mill bears witness to his need for
additional space and additional power - and to
his confidence in his new systems. The new mill,
36 metres long and 8 metres wide, comprised 16
bays and was 6 storeys high with an additional
clerestorey attic. The lower courses were of stone,
but it is not clear whether the upper section was
built in brick or in stone.
Recent excavation has revealed the ground plan of the mill including the wheelpit, offices and two privies. Further research will ascertain whether the pit contained one or two wheels and whether the gable end, which remains to be investigated, included a heating system.
The second mill annexe, stone-built in 4 storeys,
contains an unusually complete hot-air heating
system. It was constructed within the staircase
turret and adjacent to the lavatory block. Whereas
in the second mill, the staircase and offices were
placed within the main rectangle of the mill plan,
thus reducing production space, the second mill
annexe - by using a central service tower - left
each mill floor unencumbered.
This large stone building of 5 storeys is believed to have functioned as a mill with powered machinery on the four upper floors. On the ground floor, there was a storage area at the end of the building nearest the gate associated with receiving and opening bales of cotton. The cotton was cleaned in a sealed working area inside the large doors towards the middle of the building. A space with an underdrawn ceiling, doorway to the road and enlarged windows would seem to have been an office or possibly the dinner house.
The apsidal end of the building contained the
staircase which served the upper floors. Here again
is a design solution which offered maximum production
space within the mill. At the other end of the
building, adjacent to the watercourse, an internally
constructed lavatory column served each floor.
Beside it is a hot-air heating system similar to
that which survives in the second mill annex. The
building was linked to the first mill above first
floor level by a bridge built in brick. Only the
lower section of this bridge has survived.
The apsidal end which is the most prominent feature of this three storey stone-built structure housed a staircase serving the first and second floors and, through the second doorway in the apsidal end, provided entry to what is likely to have been the mill counting-house. The large windows are indicative of this function, as is the surviving fireplace and evidence of panelling. It is likely that the building was originally divided by a large arched opening in the ground floor and that the area to the east of the door would have been used for warehousing, as would the floors above.
A brick arched bridge links two floors of building 17 to the upper two floors of building 16. It spans the entrance to the site providing additional security above the gates. A Guardian insurance plaque is mounted on the roadside face of the arch.
This three-storeyed stone building with sash
windows links buildings 14 and 16. It is clearly
later than either of its neighbours. It contains
significant remains of a hot-air heating system
which may have served both this building and the
adjoining building 14.
This three-storeyed stone building is thought
to have accommodated workshop space on the ground
floor. The upper floors show signs of having been
used for machinery, possibly knitting frames. The
building was originally linked at first and second
floor level by a bridge to the second mill.
Archaeological evidence suggests that this three-storeyed
stone building was constructed and used as a warehouse.
The second floor windows remained unglazed until
the 1980s, protected solely by internal shutters.
Once its textile function had ceased, it is known
to have been used to store cheese awaiting shipment
on the canal, and later timber.
The original use of this building was as a stable
and coach-house. It has now been incorporated into
the Cromford Mill restaurant.
Within the shell of this building the remains
have been found of a three-storey cottage which
is assumed to have been one of the cottages built
by Richard Arkwright in 1771. Subsequently the
building became the coach-house and stables for
the manager’s house after which Cromford
Colour Co. converted it to a laboratory. It now
houses office accommodation.
Beyond the aqueduct stands an urbane, three-storey,
3-bay building. Its perron, iron railings and lamp
holder, together with the nearby limestone sett
paving and cannon-pattern cast iron stoop, gives
texture, interest and counterpoint to the plain
cliff-like walls of the mill. Overlooking the entrance
to the mill yard it provided added security to
the site.
The aqueduct in its present form, with a cast
iron trough resting on stone piers, replaced an
earlier structure which is known to have had a
timber launder. The aqueduct carried water from
the Cromford Sough to power the first mill. There
is archaeological evidence to suggest the existence
of a structure running at a lower level than either
the present cast iron or the previous timber aqueduct.
The ‘bow-fronted’ building was in
existence by 1786. It was badly damaged by fire
in 1961. Subsequently it was demolished, but not
before it had been photographed by the Royal Commission
on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME).
Oral tradition has it that this was the barracks:
the accommodation for the unmarried male workers
of the mill who lived too far from home to travel
from work each day.
The foundations of this structure have been excavated and consolidated as part of the conservation and interpretation of the Cromford Mill site.
The bridge pre-dates Arkwright’s development
of the Cromford Mill site. It bridges the Bonsall
Brook, and originally carried the public road which
linked Matlock Bath to Cromford Bridge and to the
road to Wirksworth. When Arkwright constructed
his second mill in 1776-77, the new building blocked
the road. It was soon after this development that
he improved the alternative route between the Cromford
road and Matlock Bath by cutting through a section
of Scarthin Rock, so creating a more manageable
route for wheeled vehicles. The road through Scarthin
Rock was not cut down to valley level until 1818,
when the turnpike road to Belper was constructed.
This three-storey stone building stands to the
west of the first mill. The generous provision
of two-light mullioned windows suggests it was
a loom shop. Richard Arkwright is known to have
employed weavers to work up his yarn and it is
likely that this building replaced an earlier structure
which stood between it and the first mill, and
which is known to have been built as part of the
first phase in 1771.
A prestigious brick-built double-pile structure
which stands in front of the loom shop and the
first mill. It is likely to have been used to provide
residential accommodation for those whose work
at the mill required a constant presence, such
as gate-keepers or watchmen. In its original form,
before the addition of the second pile, it matched
the building on the road side known as Grace Cottage;
together they offered the appearance of matching ‘pavilions’,
flanking the mill and enhancing its appearance
when seen from Cromford Market Place. Joseph Wright’s
representations of the mill by night and by day
indicate how much of the mill would have been visible
from higher up the valley before the engineering
works associated with the creation of the turnpike
road, now the A6, destroyed the natural slope of
the valley from Cromford Market Place to the Mills.
A brick cottage similar to its neighbour but
rendered, and with the original hipped roof concealed
within a modern structure. It is the Arkwright
Society’s intention to restore Grace Cottage
to its original appearance in due course.
Much of the investment in the Cromford complex
was associated with the engineering structures
which delivered and carried away the water which
provided the motive power for the mill machinery.
The basin weir c.1777, in the middle of the mill yard, the wheel pits of the first mill extension c.1786 and second mill 1777, the culvert which took water to the Cromford Canal c.1820; in particular, the massive culvert 1777 which runs from the second mill into Cromford Meadows and on to the river Derwent though for the most part unseen, are all features of outstanding historical importance.
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