The Strutts started purchasing land in Milford in March 1781 and immediately began to construct the first structure in what was to become a complex of cotton mills and bleach works. At this point along its course the river had long been put to use to provide the power for industrial processes and Strutt’s first acquisitions were two of these sites, the New Mills and the Makeney Forges and the Hopping Mill Meadow which included a fulling mill. Some cottages came with these properties and there would have been some local labour available but it cannot have been long before there was a demand for more accommodation to house an expanding workforce. In Milford, in addition to the houses the Strutts built, further mill workers’ housing was built by local people responding to the economic opportunities the Strutts created.
On the east side of the river the land rises steeply, and the Strutts had little alternative but to construct their cottages in terraces which follow the natural contour and run parallel to the road and the river. On the west side, a less severe slope enabled the community to develop along more flexible lines although the housing here also followed the existing road pattern.
The actual layout is likely to have been determined more by the availability of building plots than by the convenience of the location or by planned development. In 1791, the Enclosure Award brought to the market much land in Milford and the Strutts were well placed to seize this opportunity.
The houses and farms which formed the Milford factory settlement have survived substantially intact with little demolition, though some of the houses have been altered unsympathetically. By contrast, the industrial sites which were for so long the economic hub of the community have been reduced by the clearance of c.1960 to a handful of later buildings and a range of archaeological features. On the former cotton mill site, two wheelpits remain, together with the base plates of William Strutt’s suspension bridge of 1826 which was removed in 1946. Only the foundry the Strutts established c.1825, on Hopping Mill Meadow, has continued in use in the ownership of Hepworth Heating. To the south of the former cotton mill site, the Strutts’ flour mill built on the Makeney Forge site to replace the Duke’s corn mill which they had demolished, remains.
The list which follows is a selection rather than a comprehensive inventory of the places of worship, public houses, farms and cottages constructed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
A pair of semi-detached houses constructed
from, or on the site of, an earlier farm which
was purchased by the Strutts in 1818. They are
of coursed stone with a tiled roof with off-centre
chimneys and of two storeys. The ground floor windows
are of iron set in wooden
frames with some opening casements, with smaller
iron windows above.
Numbers 2 to 8 Duke’s Buildings, Derby Road
were built on
land the Strutts purchased in 1818 from the Duke
of
Devonshire, hence the name. They were built between
1822
and 1823 at a cost of £466 and are of three
storeys in
coursed stone with brick chimneys, but most of
the roofs
have been replaced. Number 2 forms part of an interlocking
house plan with number 65 Hopping Hill (West Side).
It also
has a fire-proof ‘pot’ floor in the
third storey.
This back-to-back terrace was built by the Strutts
between
1818 and 1820. The terrace is built into a steep
hill side.
The east side (nine double-fronted houses) is
of two
storeys. On the west side (14 houses) the houses
are of three
storeys. They are built of coursed stone with
slate roofs and
brick chimneys.
In an ingenious interlocking plan the cellars
of every other
house on each side are dug into the hill side.
Some iron
casements and sash windows survive. The approach
to this
terrace can be made by a substantial stone staircase
flanked
by enormous coursed stone walls and iron posts.
Each
house also had a garden plot divided again by substantial
stone walls and steps. Some small stone-built sheds
survive
in the gardens: probably, originally, earth closet
lavatories.
At the north end of the terrace a wide stone paved
embanked chute from the road enabled carts to tip
their
loads into the yard.
This
early industrial housing was built between 1792 and
1797 on land Jedediah Strutt received from the
Enclosure of
the common land and by purchase from Tristram
Revell.
There are two separate terraces of 28 and 29
houses. Both
are built of coursed stone with a stepped roofline.
They
have slate roofs and brick chimneys. All are
of three
storeys, although numbers 2-7 have small gabled
attic
dormers. Each
has one window on each floor at the front and casements at the rear. The
first floor windows vary between casements and smaller
sashes at the front and rear.
There
are casements on the second floor. These are said
to be Strutt designed and are nine-paned iron windows,
four panes of
which form each casement. It is clear that though
they are of an early date they are not original.
The first floor windows
have voussoirs. Some modern alteration has taken
place to the windows. On the rear elevation evidence
survives of an
original exit to the garden at half-landing level
by means of a bridge.
Number 28 is double-fronted and shaped to accommodate
the road which ran between it and number 29 which
once housed
the Milford Provision Company, the Strutts’ Co-operative.
The manager lived on the premises and his assistant
next door at
number 30. On the present garage site was a warehouse,
stable and slaughterhouse.
These houses were built in the early 19th century
by the
Strutts on land purchased in 1791. They are built
in coursed
stone with brick chimneys and are two storeys high,
though
number 58 has three storeys with the same roofline.
Numbers 61 to 64 (consecutive) have dormers. A
stockinger’s shop survives at the rear of
number 64.
The cluster of buildings around the Post Office,
some of
which have been restored recently, were built between
1792
and 1859 by speculators building on an enclosure
allotment
taking advantage of the economic opportunity created
by
the Strutts’ investment in Milford.
It was built c.1830 on the site of an earlier
building, near
the site of Makeney Forge. A coursed stone house,
it has
modern stone eaves and a slate roof, cast iron
adjustable
gutter brackets and cast iron casement windows
set in
wooden frames. It was purchased by the Strutts
in 1855.
Originally a double-fronted house which was built
by
Samuel Crofts on an enclosure allotment. A shop
was
subsequently added. The building was purchased
by
Anthony Radford Strutt in 1819 and converted
to
three houses.
A double-fronted house
originally with a stockinger’s
shop on the north side built
by Zephaniah Brown and
subsequently converted to
three houses. Two further
small houses were added on
the south side in 1823 by Z Brown junior. These
houses were purchased by Anthony Radford Strutt
in 1836 for £280. A
pump stands nearby.
Built of small bricks as a terrace c.1750 by the ironmaster Walter Mather for his workers. The doorways are shallow arched and the windows have sashes of a later date.
This block was originally a farm of considerable
antiquity
(possibly 15th century) and stabling. It is built
of sandstone
ashlar with an old tiled roof. It was partially
rebuilt in 1732
after a fire. The Strutts purchased it in 1806
and converted
it into three or four houses.
This was built by the Strutts as a terrace of
back-to-back
stone houses. It has a hipped slate roof with
moulded stone
eaves and is two storeys in height.
Dated 1672 double-fronted, of coursed stone
with mullioned windows most of which have
been replaced by 19th century mullions.
A large ashlar stone house standing on embanked
grounds built for Jedediah Strutt, who
lived here briefly before moving to Derby. The
main elevation facing east is of a
symmetrical design. The building is two storeys
high and has a slate roof and sash
windows. The central round-arched doorway has
an entablature with pilasters.
These were built as one building in the early
nineteenth century, but in a 17th century style,
to house farm workers.
The former ‘Royal Oak’ public
house was built in the early 19th century of three
storeys in
coursed stone with brick chimneys and with later
tiled roof and a symmetrical facade.
Anthony Radford Strutt purchased it in 1847. It
has ‘Strutt’ adjustable iron gutter
brackets
and cast iron windows within timber frames.
These two-storey houses were built by Henry Reeder
c.1792
and sold to the Strutts in 1808.
Tradition has it that this building served as
a barracks - a
residence for unmarried workers living away from
home. It
is of brick construction on the west side but
stone on the
east. The lower side is of three storeys and
the upper of
two. It was begun in 1791 when a single house
was built by
Thomas Sims. A further 11 houses were added between
1807
and 1822 by John Farnsworth and four more in
1823-24.
Anthony Radford Strutt purchased this property
in 1831 to
accommodate small families.
Built by John Bates for Edward Marson and purchased by the Strutts in 1856.
A two-storey double-pile stone house, gable end
onto the
road, built as a house and shop by John Bates
for William
Cash, a joiner. It was purchased by the Strutts
in 1856.
Strutt’s terrace built c.1792 is an early
example of sloping
roof construction of three storeys in coursed stone,
with
slate roof and brick chimneys. Each house has a
single room
on each floor lit by a single window. Number 1
adjoins the
mill buildings and the extension to the front was
added in
the 20th century for the village post office.
12 dwellings built by William Marriott in 1791
which included butcher’s, baker’s and
stockinger’s shops and a public house. Purchased
by Anthony Radford Strutt in 1833 for£1,320,
the Strutts later converted the public house into
a reading room for the use of Milford residents.
A two-storey terrace in coursed stone built by
the Strutts
between 1792 and 1796. It has a hipped slate roof
in
diminishing courses, brick chimneys and sash windows.
The
stone wall on the eastern side of the street contains
a recess
for a pump. Cast iron launders were fitted to these
houses
in 1820.
Originally a row of eight built for the bleach
mill
management by the Strutts. They are of two and
a half
storeys in height with brick chimneys. They are
seen at
their best from across the valley. This elevation
reveals their
superior status.
A terrace of two-storey houses in coursed
stone built by the Strutts between 1792 and 1796.
The terrace was demolished three houses at a
time and rebuilt as double-fronted houses with
entries in 1911.
A stone built terrace, c.1820, built by the Strutts.
The farm was built by the Strutt family to supply
produce to
their workforce. The large, planned steading,
largely
constructed in gritstone with Welsh slate or
Staffordshire
plain tiled roofs, is enclosed by perimeter walls.
The principal original building consists of a T-shaped two-storey block that included a stable, cart sheds, feed preparation area and first floor storage. Two attached cow-houses form single-storey wings. On the south side of the cow-house was a large fold yard; a second large yard is enclosed to the north of the T-shaped block, which incorporates two forms of fire-proof construction. The first floor is carried on brick jack-arches springing from iron skewback beams - a form of floor construction paralleled in contemporary mills and warehouses built by the Strutts, and the first floor ceiling consisting of groined brick vaults without structural iron. Shortly after constructing the steading an L-shaped extension to the east cow-house and a linear extension to the west cow-house were added in the same style.
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About
1830 the west cow-house was further extended so that
it too formed an L-shape. An open-fronted range,
possibly intended as calving pens, was constructed
within the fold yard at about the same time. In the last quarter of the 19th
century, the domestic accommodation was extended
by converting part of the fire-proof
block and adding a single-bay east extension.
An open-fronted hay barn was constructed at
the same time to replace storage space lost in
the conversion. A number of minor buildings
and additions date from the late 19th and early
20th centuries.
The farm is an interesting example of the multi-functional
Strutt building. The range of farm buildings is
constructed of coursed stone. Two segmental arches
in
the north elevation probably served cart-sheds.
There are
stables and cow-sheds with rectangular vents and
a loft
above. The adjoining building, Redhill Cottage,
the
earliest part of which is probably 17th century,
has been
altered probably in the late 18th or early 19th
century. It
appears to have been in separate occupation from
the farm since it was purchased in 1833.
Built on land purchased by Hutton, the local
surveyor and architect and probably built by
him, it has three storeys and five bays. All the
window openings are intact but some of the
glazing is modern.
Built as a beerhouse and grocery by George Brassington and known as the Durham Ox, it was later sold to a religious group. It is dated 1846 (front) and 1859 (back and porch) and is built of coursed stone with moulded stone eaves.
It is believed that this is the structure on which
the Strutts
spent nearly £3000 between c.1819 and 1823.
There is some
architectural evidence that it was built in two
parts to serve
two different functions.
It was constructed on a sloping site with the upper floor at street level (on the west side) and with an arched ground floor at the rear lower level (on the east side).
It is said that the ground floor was used for the
Strutts’
wagons and carts in the dye yard and the upper
floor as a
school. When the ‘half-time’ system
was operating a gate in
the mill yard allowed the children to move freely
between
the mill and the school. It is all now a school
though the
water tanks for the dyehouse are still under the
school yard.
Built of coursed stone it has a slate roof with large cowl ventilators and multi-pane cast iron windows. The interior has very light iron roof trusses dated 1875.
It was built in 1842 of coursed stone of two
storeys on a high plinth with a hipped slate
roof and with sash windows with glazing bars.
The entrance has been altered. The main
facade is symmetrical.
It is dated 1849 on the facade. It is built
of coursed stone with a high rusticated stone
plinth and has a hipped slate roof. The design
is symmetrical about a central entrance.
The plan for this building is dated 1823. It
is built of brick with a symmetrical front.
It was built between 1846 and 1848 and designed
by H
Moffat on a site given by the Strutts. It is
designed in the
early English style and is built of coursed stone
rubble with
a tiled roof.
The river bridge was built in 1793 by Jedediah
Strutt. It is ashlar with two segmental arches
and with rusticated outwaters. A parapet cantilevered
out was added in 1906.
The tunnel was constructed in 1840 for the North
Midland
Railway Company, the first large tunnel on the
line to be
built. The engineers were George and Robert Stephenson.
The entrances have a series of decreasing semi-circular
concentric stone arches. The tunnel is still
in use.
The Tower, square in plan, is sited over the
railway tunnel.
It is four storeys in height and has openings
on each floor.
It was built by the North Midland Railway Company
when
the section of the line between Derby and Belper,
which
opened in 1840, was being constructed. For many
years it
was believed that the tower had served as a siting
tower to
survey the line, however, recent research suggests
that it was
in fact a semaphore tower and was used to display
signals to
indicate to engine drivers using the tunnel whether
the line
was clear.
