ABOUT THE SITE
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.
It was to this well established industrial settlement that the Evans family added their cotton mill in 1782 and subsequently their factory village. Thomas and his brother Edmund bought all the industrial buildings in Darley Abbey and land to the north on which the cotton mills were built. The mills were extended throughout the 19th century and became known as the Boar’s Head Mills. The mills remained in the Evans family until the death of Walter Evans in 1903.
Darley Abbey
Why visit Darley Abbey?
Darley Abbey is an example of an early industrial settlement where the mills and houses, school and church have survived intact.
Parking
There is parking in the centre of Darley Abbey near to the weir on the river Derwent for a small number of cars but no parking for coaches.
How to get there
By road – Darley Abbey is 2 kilometres north of Derby City Centre. From the roundabout at the intersection between the A38 dual carriage way and the A6, Darley Abbey is signposted as an exit in the direction towards Derby City centre. Buses regularly pass along the A6, with a short walk into the village and mills. It is also possible to walk to Darley Abbey from the Silk Mill in Derby along the river.
By bus – Buses pass regularly along the A6 from Derby town centre and then it is only a short walk into the village.
What is available for school groups?
- As yet there is no visitor centre to help with the interpretation of the mills or the village. It is intended that interpretation boards will be positioned at key points by the end of 2005.
- School groups wanting to visit Darley Abbey should plan their own fieldwork activities and carry out their own background research in order to take groups on a tour of the site. A leaflet has been produced and is available from Derby City Council called ‘Darley Abbey and Park to Derby Silk Mill’ which has a plan of the village with linked photographs of key sites and information about the sites.
- See Derby City website for information. www.derby.gov.uk/HiRes/Living/Planning/thederwentvalleymillsworldheritagesite
Site Highlights - Exploration and Discovery
- Three-storeyed terraced housing, Brick Row. This was probably built in 1826, look particularly at no11 which has its original windows.
- Cluster housing. The Four Houses were built in 1792, as an early experiment with the cluster house format where four houses are built together to make a rectangular building.
- Back-to-back housing, Hill Square. This square is formed by blocks of houses of which many are back to back. On the west side the block of three is believed to have been built originally as six back-to back houses. To the north, the block of four houses has remained back-to-back, as have the lower block of six built into the former Abbey building, now the Abbey Inn.
- The Square (Flat Square).This is believed to date from 1790 and is probably the first of the housing developments provided by the Evans family.
- The Boar’s Head Mills. These include some of the most complete early cotton factory buildings, notably Long Mill, West Mill and East Mill.
- The Kiosk-Gatehouse. This was built before 1846 and of octagonal shape. It was an important part of the early factory.
- Darley Abbey School. This was built in 1826, by William Evans. It combined a house at each end, one for the Master and one for the Mistress. (This is not the school in use today)
- St. Matthew’s Church, built by William Evans in 1818. The Churchyard has ornate cast iron gates of impressive size and many fine slate headstones provided by the Evans family for their workforce.
- The Weir and the River Derwent
- Darley Park – a large open park by the river, which includes a café and small play area.