Derwent Valley Mills

Earlier this month we traveled to Derbyshire to visit the Derwent Valley. The World Heritage Site runs from Matlock Bath down to Derby and has some of the first 'modern' factories. The first we visited was Masson Mills established in 1783 by Sir Richard Arkwright, It is a working textile museum and it was fascinating to see all the machinery. We also visited his earlier Cromford Mill built in 1771, the world's first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill. After a visit to Cromford - a village built for the workers, and the Cromford Canal we went to William Strutt's North Mill in Belper. This mill, built in 1804, was the first 'fire proof' mill. It was also constructed to deal with the buildings movement caused when all the machines were operating. A forerunner of the earthquake resistant buildings in America and Japan.

The following machines were used to unpack the cotton bale, card the cotton or wool and then create the sliver ready for spinning

As production of cloth increased individual hand spinners could not keep up with demand. The first picture shows a 'Spinning Jenny' developed by James Hargreaves. This could spin eight yarns at a time but the quality was only suitable for weft threads. The other pictures show spinning frames these were designed by Richard Arkwright and were originally powered by water.

These show the bobbins and pirns (the inner part of the shuttle that holds the weft thread) waiting to be wound

Jacquard looms are the most amazing looms ever. They use a series of punched cards to produce intricate patterns including brocade and damask. It was the first time that I had actually seen one of the machines for producing the cards.

These flat knitting machines were fascinating. The stockings on display featured what I had always called 'Clocks' but here it was called 'Chevening'. What was interesting is that the embroidery is worked from the inside of the stocking - I shall have to try this.

There were wonderful patterns to be found throughout the mills - I have only included a few.

'Long Row' houses in Belper were built for millworkers. The ground and first floor contained living quarters whilst the top floor was for spinning or weaving, hence the long windows.

Whilst in the area we also visited Crich Tramway Village. This is home to the national tram museum. Various buildings and other structures have been moved from areas where regeneration is going on and rebuilt to create a village street. The pub in the centre was from Stoke-on-Trent.

There were loads of trams to see - from the first horse drawn ones up to modern electric ones. There were also several you could ride on which was great fun.