By Isla Quinn
Stone. Water. Noise, once. Cromford sits in the Derwent valley in Derbyshire, and the thing that happened here changed how cloth, and work, were made.
According to Wikipedia, it is a village and civil parish between Wirksworth and Matlock, 17 miles (27 km) north of Derby and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Matlock, with 1,433 people at the 2011 Census. Small, then. The reason people still come is the mill.
The mill
The Derwent Valley Mills partnership, which runs a visitor guide to the valley, calls Cromford Mills “the world’s first successful water-powered cotton spinning mills,” built by Sir Richard Arkwright between 1771 and 1791. The Cromford Mills visitor leaflet gives 1771 as the year Arkwright had the mill built and says the Arkwright Society saved it from demolition in 1971. UNESCO adds a second step: a larger mill in 1776 to 1777, and together these established what it calls the “Arkwright System.”
The leaflet says the water came from Bonsall Brook. Our reading: a brook is a modest thing to build a world first on, which may be why the story is about engineering and planning, not size.
The village around it
Arkwright did not only build mills. The leaflet says he built houses in Cromford with a third storey for spinning, and that many still stand. It says that by 1782 about 5,000 people were spinning cotton locally. We show that figure as the leaflet’s own and have not found it in our other sources. Wikipedia describes North Street as early purpose-built workers’ housing, rescued from dereliction in the 1970s by the Ancient Monument Society.
The visitor guide says St Mary’s Church was founded by Arkwright and that some of the family are buried in its small cemetery. It says Willersley Castle was built for him but that he died before he could move in. The same page says that his son, Richard Arkwright Junior, was “said to be the richest commoner in Europe.”
A valley, not a single site
UNESCO inscribed the Derwent Valley Mills in 2001, under criteria (ii) and (iv). It describes four main industrial settlements along the river: Cromford, Belper, Milford and Darley Abbey. The surviving housing for mill workers spans about 24 km of the valley, from near Matlock Bath to near the centre of Derby. The property covers 1,228.7 hectares and includes 848 listed buildings, 13 conservation areas and 9 scheduled ancient monuments. UNESCO says the valley “saw the birth of the factory system.”
The canal and the railway
The visitor guide says the Cromford Canal begins across the road from the mills, near the Gothic Warehouse, that it is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and that its northern stretch inside the World Heritage Site offers five miles of towpath. About a mile along, High Peak Junction has what the guide calls some of the oldest surviving railway workshops in the world.
Dates in the sources differ a little. The World Heritage listing site we read says the canal was built from 1789 to 1794. Wikipedia says only that it was built to serve the mills and is disused.
Dates in order
- 1721: the Silk Mill in Derby is built, according to UNESCO.
- 1771: Arkwright builds the first water-powered cotton mill at Cromford, according to UNESCO, Wikipedia and the leaflet.
- 1776 to 1777: a larger mill, according to UNESCO.
- 1971: the Arkwright Society saves the mill from demolition, according to the leaflet.
- 2001: World Heritage inscription, according to UNESCO.
Side by side
The mill’s own start is given three ways. The visitor guide says it was built between 1771 and 1791. UNESCO says 1771 for the first mill and 1776 to 1777 for a larger one. Wikipedia and the leaflet give 1771. We read these as one story told at different lengths: a first mill, then more building over two decades. Our reading, not a stated fact.
What kind of sources these are
The valley partnership page is a tourism and heritage body’s visitor guide. The leaflet comes from the mills’ own owner, the Arkwright Society. UNESCO is the inscribing body. A World Heritage listing site and Wikipedia add dates and figures; Wikipedia can be edited by anyone. We loaded no Historic England entry.
Questions a buyer would ask
Cromford is a good place to ask what “made in the valley” means to a maker: made here, made nearby, or only inspired by it? None of our sources names a craft business, so we name none.
What we left out
Opening hours, tour details, admission charges, train times, the hotel history of Willersley Castle, and the living people connected with the mills.
Quick answers
Where was the first water-powered cotton mill? According to UNESCO and the Cromford Mills leaflet, Richard Arkwright built it at Cromford in Derbyshire in 1771.
Is Cromford a World Heritage Site? Yes, as part of the Derwent Valley Mills, which UNESCO inscribed in 2001. The listing includes Cromford, Belper, Milford and Darley Abbey.
How long is the Cromford Canal towpath? The Derwent Valley Mills visitor guide says the northern stretch inside the World Heritage Site offers five miles of towpath.
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Roam first. Shop later.