Busy time for the Derwent Valley in Discovery Days Festival 2011
COMMUNITIES along the Derwent Valley were busier than ever over 2011 October half-term holidays, as people took to the streets of Belper, Cromford, Milford and Darley Abbey to find out more about the World Heritage Site on their doorstep.
It’s ten years now since the Derwent Valley Mills were inscribed on the World Heritage List. To celebrate, the annual Discovery Days Heritage Festival ran for ten days, with 130 activities taking place.
The programme began with a celebrationary evening in ten acts in the University of Derby’s Court Room, with Councillor Andrew Lewer, the Chairman of the World Heritage Site Board, officially launching the festival.
The following day saw events on Cathedral Green and in Derby Silk Mill, which re-opened for the occasion, and a hugely popular tour of Derby, seen through the eyes of 18th century historian William Hutton. Milford had a lot of visitors at walks and openings, including a rare look inside the Milford Turbine House, organised by Transition Belper. The day ended with a capacity audience for 1623 Theatre Company’s free performance of Supernatural Shakespeare in Belper River Gardens.
On the first Sunday, mills, chapels and houses opened to the public in Belper. Tours of the East Mill’s fifth floor, the North Mill’s attic schoolroom, the ice house on Bridge Hill and the old mill watercourses were fully booked, and hundreds of people went to look inside the Unitarian Chapel, a millworker’s cottage on Long Row, and a Nailmaster’s Mansion – The Cedars – on Field Lane.
“One of the greatest new additions this year was the opening of houses on Chevin View,” said event coordinator Adrian Farmer. “Calling Chevin View its original name, Berkin’s Court, the residents put on a host of activities, including exhibitions and a 1911 wash-day. They attracted huge numbers and we’ve had some great feedback.”
Sunday ended with the Ritz Cinema screening recently-discovered news footage from the East Mill’s final day as a working cotton factory in 1986.
The festival continued with performances, walks and talks during the week, and ended with two days of celebrations centred on the canal wharf and mills at Cromford, with the impressive Leawood Pumphouse in steam and forges working at High Peak Junction’s railway workshops. Cotton Grass Theatre gave two performances of Berlie Doherty’s Street Child which were very popular and attracted capacity audiences.
