Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site along the River Derwent in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. It is administered by the Derwent Valley Mills Partnership. The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for spinning cotton developed by Richard Arkwright. With advancements in technology, it became possible to produce cotton continuously. The system was adopted throughout the valley, and later spread so that by 1788 there were over 200 Arkwright-type mills in Britain. Arkwright's inventions and system of organising labour was exported to Europe and the United States.
Water-power was first introduced to England by John Lombe at his silk mill in Derby in 1719, but it was Richard Arkwright who applied water-power to the process of producing cotton in the 1770s. His patent of a water frame allowed cotton to be spun continuously, meaning it could be produced by unskilled workers. Cromford Mill was the site of Arkwright's first mill, with nearby Cromford village significantly expanded for his then-new workforce; this system of production and workers' housing was copied throughout the valley. To ensure the presence of a labour force, it was necessary to construct housing for the mill workers. Thus, new settlements were established by mill owners around the mills – sometimes developing a pre-existing community – with their own amenities such as schools, chapels, and markets. Most of the housing still exists and is still in use. Transport infrastructure was built to open new markets for the mills' produce.
Mills and workers' settlements were established at Belper, Darley Abbey, and Milford by Arkwright's competitors. Arkwright-type mills were so successful that sometimes they were copied without paying royalties to Richard Arkwright.
The cotton industry in the Derwent Valley went into decline in the first quarter of the 19th century as the market shifted towards Lancashire which was better positioned in relation to markets and raw materials. The mills and their associated buildings are well preserved and have been reused since the cotton industry declined. Many of the buildings within the World Heritage Site are also listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments. Some of the mills now contain museums and are open to the public.
The Derwent Valley Trust is now involved in the creation of a cycle-way running the entire length of the World Heritage site to promote sustainable tourism and travel.
Location and coverage The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site covers an area of Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 13. and spans a stretch of the Derwent Valley, in Derbyshire, from Matlock Bath in the north to Derby city centre in the south. Within the site are mill complexes, settlements including workers' housing, weirs on the River Derwent, and the transport network that supported the mills in the valley.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 10. The site consists of the communities of Cromford, Belper, Milford, and Darley Abbey, and includes 838 listed buildings, made up of 16 Grade I, 42 Grade II*, and 780 Grade II. A further nine structures are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The buildings are a mixture of mills, workers' housing, and structures associated with the mill communities. The Cromford Canal and Cromford and High Peak Railway, which aided the industrialisation of the area, are also part of the World Heritage Site.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 32.
History
In the late 17th century silk making expanded due to demand for silk as part of fashionable garments. In an attempt to increase production through the use of water power, Thomas Cotchett commissioned engineer George Sorocold to build a mill near the centre of Derby on an island in the River Derwent. Although the experiment was unsuccessful, it convinced John Lombe – an employee of Cotchett – that if water power could be perfected there was a market for its produce. He engaged in industrial espionage and gained plans of Italian machines. He patented the design in 1719 and built a five-storey mill next to Crotchett's mill. By 1763, 30 years after Lombe's patent had expired, only seven Lombe mills had been built because the silk market was small, but Lombe had introduced a viable form of water powered machinery and had established a template for organised labour that later industrialists would follow.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 93–94.
As silk was a luxury good, the market was small and easily saturated by machine produced goods. The next innovation in machine produced textiles came in the cotton industry which had a much wider market and produced more affordable goods. Spinning cotton was a more complex process than silk production.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 94. The water frame for spinning cotton was developed by Richard Arkwright and patented in 1769. The machines could spin yarn continuously and replaced skilled workers with unskilled supervisors to make sure the machines did not break. Water frames varied in size from 4 to 96 spindles. For these reasons, the water frame became popular and widespread.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 96. In 1771, Richard Arkwright took a lease on land in Cromford. By 1774, his first mill was operational, and in 1776 he began construction of a second mill at Cromford. During this time, he developed machines for pre-spinning and in 1775 took out his second patent.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 94–95. With spinning mechanised, the other processes involved in producing cotton could not keep up and also required mechanisation. He produced a machine for carding, the process which laid out the cotton fibres parallel, however not all his inventions were successful and cleaning the cotton was performed by hand until the 1790s when an effective machine was invented.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 96–97.
Arkwright sought financial assistance, and Peter Nightingale – a local landowner (and grand uncle of Florence Nightingale) – bought the Cromford Estate for £20,000 (£ as of ). Nightingale also built Rock House as a residence for Arkwright, overlooking the mill, and gave him a further £2,000 (£) to build the second mill and £1,750 (£) for workers' housing. Between 1777 and 1783, Arkwright and his family built mills at Bakewell, Cressbrook, Rocester, and Wirksworth, spread across Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Jedediah Strutt, who was Arkwright's partner in the first Cromford Mill, built mills at Belper and Milford in 1776–1781. Thomas Evans, a landowner in Darley Abbey, bought a further in the area around Darley Abbey at a cost of £1,140 (£) and in 1782 built a cotton mill in the village.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 106. Arkwright was paid royalties by those who had copied his machines, although some people risked prosecution by engaging in piracy.
The construction of Masson Mill in Matlock Bath began in 1783, instigated by Arkwright.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 98. Contemporaneous with Arkwright's expansionism was the entry of Jedediah Strutt into the cotton spinning industry. Strutt had the advantage that Arkwright had already done all the necessary experimentation with machinery, so he did not have to invest in researching new technology. He established a mill at Belper, about south of Cromford; it was probably complete in 1781. The site was expanded with the addition of a second mill in 1784. Strutt also built a mill in Milford, about south of Belper. By 1793, two further mills were added for printing and bleaching. The Strutts estimated that by 1789 they had invested £37,000 (£) in theirs mills at Belper and Milford (£26,000 at Belper and £11,000 at Milford), and had a return of £36,000 (£) per year.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 101–102.
Arkwright had a reputation as a paternalistic employer who was concerned for the well-being of his employees and their families. A Sunday School was built at Cromford in 1785 and provided education to 200 children.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 100. By 1789, the Cromford Estate was back in the ownership of the Arkwrights, who actively influenced its structure and construction. Cromford was given a market place to act as a new focus for the village. Arkwright organised a market every Sunday and as incentive to attend, gave annual prizes to those who attended most often. After Arkwright died in 1792 his son, Richard Arkwright junior, took over and sold most of his cotton mills outside Cromford and Matlock Bath. The mills in Cromford and Matlock Bath were probably retained to support the Willersley Estate. Societies and clubs were created in Cromford. The religious affairs of the community were of less interest to Arkwright, and it was not until 1797 that Arkwright junior established Cromford Church; his father had envisaged it as a private chapel for the Arkwright family at Willersley Castle. The family's attempts to make Cromford self-sustaining through establishing a market was successful, and the village expanded until about 1840. This was even though the mills had passed their zenith and begun to enter decline in this period.
Richard Arkwright junior was uninterested in the cotton business, and after the death of his father the Arkwright family ceased to invest in the industry. The Strutt family continued to invest, fuelled by the profits of their mills in Milford and Belper. They continued building mills into the 1810s, and by 1833 their business employed 2,000 people and had dominated the cotton industry in the Derwent Valley.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 102–104. As Arkwright had done at Cromford, the Strutts provided housing for their employees. Belper was already an established village with its own market before Jedediah Strutt began building mills, so he was not required to have as active a role in developing the community into a self-sustaining entity as Richard Arkwright did at Cromford.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 103. The Strutts provided education, and in 1817 650 and 300 children attended Sunday Schools in Belper and Milford respectively.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 105. Compared with Cromford, whose population had plateaued at around 1,200 in the early 19th century, the population of Belper rose from 4,500 in 1801 to 7,890 in 1831 due to the prosperity of the business.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), pp. 100–104. Darley Abbey also expanded as a worker's settlement although it had no market place, so providing food for the inhabitants was problematic. The settlement doubled in size between 1788 and 1801, and between 1801 and 1831 the population increased from 615 to 1,170 with the addition of much worker's housing. A Sunday School for 80 children was established in one of the mills and a church and school were built in 1819 and 1826 respectively.Derwent Valley Mills Partnership (2000), p. 110.