Welcome to Cromford
Mill
In August 1771 Richard
Arkwright began building in Cromford. He created the world’s first
successful water powered cotton spinning mill; a vital step
towards full scale factory production. The mills at Cromford
with their powered machinery, large workforce and factory
village became models for others throughout Britain and abroad.
For the Victorians who learnt so much from his example, Arkwright
earned the accolade ‘Father of the factory system’.
Richard Arkwright’s achievements are acknowledged
throughout the world. In Germany, at Cromford (just outside
Dusseldorf) and in the United States, at Pawtucket in New
England, the first mills using Arkwright’s technology
have been restored and preserved as museums. In this country,
where the story began, the same process is underway.
The importance of Sir Richard's achievements
in Cromford and his partners developments further south was
recognised in December 2001 when UNESCO inscribed a twenty
four kilometre stretch of the Derwent Valley between Matlock
Bath and Derby. Inscription by UNESCO as a World Heritage
site provided the
ultimate
confirmation of Cromford’s place in the cultural history
of the world.
Trouble at the Mill
Problems with the water supply c 1840 imported
severe limitations on textile production at Cromford Mill
and the buildings were put to other uses. These included
a brewery,
laundries,
cheese warehousing and finally, in 1922,
the production of colour pigments for paints and dyes. It
is remarkable that so many of the buildings survived this
use and by 1979 when the Colour Company abandoned the site,
many of them were heavily contaminated with lead chromate.
It was generally believed the mills had reached the end of
their useful life and must be demolished.
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