SITE INFORMATION
Masson Mills
Richard Arkwright built his showpiece Masson Mill in Matlock Bath in 1783, twelve years after he built his first water-powered mill at Cromford and fourteen years after his first mill in Nottingham. Masson Mill was built on the River Derwent which gave Richard Arkwright access to a power source ten times greater than that at the Cromford site.
Cromford Mill and Cromford Village
Cromford Mill is the world’s first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill, built by Richard Arkwright in 1771 and extended until 1790. It is a site of historic significance because at Cromford, Arkwright began a new system of cotton manufacture which developed the model for the factory system.
Cromford Wharf and Cromford Canal
Cromford Wharf is the northern terminus of the Cromford Canal. It abuts Mill Lane opposite Cromford Mill. Cromford Wharf includes two warehouses, an office or counting house and two cottages which survive from the first phase of the development of the wharf. Once entirely enclosed by a stone perimeter wall, the wharf was home to a range of other facilities; these buildings have not survived.
High Peak Junction Workshops on the Cromford Canal
The Cromford and High Peak Railway which opened in 1831, completed the link to the Manchester area the canal promoters had intended to provide. It crossed the high ground between Cromford and Whaley Bridge by means of a series of inclines and stationary steam engines.
Strutt's North Mill, Belper
Jedediah Strutt developed the mill site in Belper from 1776, harnessing the power of the River Derwent to drive his mills. Subsequent generations of Strutts continued to develop and improve the site. It continued as a working textile mill until 1991. It was necessary for the Strutt family to build an infrastructure to encourage families to come and live in Belper so that their children would be available to work in the mills.
Milford
The Strutt family began buying land in Milford in March 1781. They began to build a complex of cotton mills and a bleach works. The Derwent at this point had long been in use to provide power for various works that were built along the banks. The Strutts bought two of these sites, the New Mills and Makeney Forges, and the Hopping Mill Meadow site which included a fulling mill.
Darley Abbey
The settlement of Darley Abbey lies a little over 2 kilometres north of
Derby City Centre.
By the 17th century this small settlement had become established as an industrial
hamlet near, but quite separate from, Derby. In the middle of the century there
were two fulling mills and two corn mills and there may also have been a forge.
In the 1770s there were five separate water-powered mills; a paper mill, a corn
mill, two flint mills and a leather mill.
The Silk Mill
The story of how the large scale manufacturing of high quality silk thread arrived in Derbyshire early in the eighteenth century is the story of the driving enthusiasm and inventive genius of a few key individuals.
Derby City Museum and Art Gallery
Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797) painted the portrait of Sir Richard Arkwright and another of his son, also called Richard, with his wife and son. The painting of Arkwright Junior, his wife and child was purchased with the help of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and local fundraisers, so that it could remain in Derby.