About the Derwent Valley Mills
About the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site
This section of the website will tell you all about the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and its commitments to UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention.
The Derwent Valley Mills and the surrounding landscape were inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001. The reason for this international recognition is that the valley saw the birth of the factory system, when new types of building were erected to house new technology for spinning cotton. The need to provide housing and other facilities resulted in the creation of the first modern industrial settlements.
World Heritage Inscription comes with responsibilities, as laid out in the World Heritage Convention, to which HM Government is a signatory. These require that the Derwent Valley Mills Site and its surrounding landscape is ‘protected, conserved, presented and transmitted to future generations’. HM Government requires management plans to be in place for all the World Heritage Sites on its territories to fulfil its obligation to the Convention. The Government has delegated the responsibility for the production of the DVMWHS Management Plan, and the oversight of its implementation to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Partnership.
Our mission, vision and aims are set out in the Management Plan which is updated every five years.
World Heritage Status
How does a place become a World Heritage Site? Why was the Derwent Valley chosen? List and links to UK World Heritage Sites
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Outstanding Universal Value
Statement of Outstanding Universal Value; Annual Report and Key Performance Indicators; Monitoring Views; Attributes of Outstanding Universal Value
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The Management Plan
The Management Plan looks at the main issues affecting the site and gives objectives and a programme of actions to ensure a co-ordinated approach and framework to its management.
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Protecting Our Heritage
The main reason for the establishment of the World Heritage List was for protecting our heritage and to prevent the loss of sites of international significance.
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Governance
Governance of our World Heritage Site is vital but complex, particularly as it has such a wide range of stakeholders, from large organisations to individual house owners.
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