Richard Arkwright - Masson Mill

After walking the Derwent Valley Heritage Way I am now on a continued mission to educate myself in all things Arkwright. The next location on my list was Masson Mill, I have visited before many years ago but that was only to browse the shops that are now part of this diversified mill. Masson Mill sits in between Matlock Bath and Cromford at the northern end of the UNESCO Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, It is the crowning jewel in Sir Richard Arkwright's cotton milling achievements and I knew I had to go and check out this fantastic looking mill.

[caption id="attachment_1922" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill[/caption]

I arrived at just after 10am on a very misty autumnal morning, the leaves were falling, the mist had descended so the warmth of the mill building felt very welcoming. I visited his very first Mill last week and wrote a blog post which can be found at Richard Arkwright – Cromford Mill.

[caption id="attachment_1918" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill[/caption]

As I mentioned earlier there is a wealth of shopping and dining facilities at Masson Mill. I did quickly sample some coffee from the cafeteria on the ground floor before I heading off to the museum to learn some more valuable history lessons. You enter the Mill Museum by descending down the slope which is just to the left of the shopping entrance and car park. I paid the very modest entrance fee of £3, quickly stopped to take a picture of the original Mill bell from 1785 and then headed down stairs to begin soaking up all that was on offer.

[caption id="attachment_1921" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Yorkshire Loom[/caption]

As it was approaching 11am I headed straight for the Weaving Shed and Dispatch. A machinery demonstration takes place at 11am & 2pm Monday to Saturday, if you visit on a Sunday the demo is 11am and 4pm. I had a great chat with Kevin Gilbert who works at the museum, he very kindly answered a few quick questions while I recorded it for Peak Routes via AudioBoo. In the Boo which is embedded below you can hear our discussion and the sound of one of the Yorkshire Looms that dates back around 130 years.

listen to ‘Sir Richard Arkwright - Masson Mill - Museum Tour - Part 1’ on Audioboo

I was totally fascinated by all that was on offer in the Weaving Shed, the live demo of the machines was excellent and it was great to see them working. The noise of the Yorkshire and Lancashire Looms was at a bearable level today, it does make me wonder what it must have been like to work in the mill when all the machines were weaving, spinning, carding and doubling all at once.

[caption id="attachment_1914" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Cotton Bale[/caption]

After the great demo by Kevin I moved on to the Spinning and Carding section of the museum. The huge "Mule" spinning/drawing machine looked very impressive, It wasn't in operation today but I can imagine it must have required great skill to operate as it moved backwards and forwards.

[caption id="attachment_1915" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Cotton Drawing[/caption]

Next I wandered through the Mechanic's shop to the boiler house. when Arkwright built the mill it was originally powered by water until the steam boilers were fitted around 1911. They are absolutely huge and I imagine this room must have been particularly warm when they were in use.

[caption id="attachment_1920" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Weir on the River Derwent[/caption]

After the boiler house I wandered outside to have a look at the weir on the River Derwent that was built by Arkwright in 1783. one of the reasons he built Masson Mill is due to the great power that could be harnessed from the River Derwent. His original mill down in Cromford had suffered from water flow issues as it was using the power of Bonsall Brook and Cromford Sough. The Derwent which begins high up in the Peak District at Swaines Greave has a much larger flow.

[caption id="attachment_1913" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Bobbin Room[/caption]

The mill was first powered by the water wheel, then by steam and is now run by hydro electric power. Thanks to this, the site is totally self sufficient and when the mill is closed the hydro electric power is channelled back into the national grid. I then wandered through the Bobbin Room which house the worlds largest collection of bobbins, according to the signs there they have around 680,000, needless to say I didn't take the time to double check their count :-)

[caption id="attachment_1919" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Tethering Ring[/caption]

Next was the Doubling Room which is in the oldest part of the mill, I was particularly impressed by what is attached to the wall in this area. It is the original ring where Arkwright tethered his horse when it was raining. being the fanatic that I am I had to grab hold of it and imagine what it must have been like in the room all those years ago. I was once again left fascinated by the working cotton doubling machine that is housed here. I recorded an AudioBoo while I watched it working the strands of thread, twisting them together and giving double thickness to the final yarn.

listen to ‘Sir Richard Arkwright - Masson Mill - Museum Tour - Part 2’ on Audioboo

[caption id="attachment_1917" align="alignnone" width="600"] Masson Mill - Doubling Room[/caption]

After the Doubling Room I had one more look in the Weaving Shed before concluding my very brief visit. There is a vast wealth of things to see, hear and experience at the museum. I will definitely be returning again very soon to spend more time exploring and learning. If you would like to find out more about the museum at Masson Mill you can do so by visiting http://www.massonmills.co.uk/Museum/. They have a great website which is full of information that will make you want to go and have a look for yourself. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I hope to bring you another instalment in my Derwent Valley Mills visits very soon.

Richard Arkwright - Cromford Mill

I'm fascinated by history, by the great things people have achieved and by the stories they have left behind. While I type this I immediately think back to one of my trips to Australia, I had been researching the history of that great land and knew that I had to visit Botany Bay where Captain James Cook first landed on saturday 28 April 1770. As I sat there alone by the water's edge at La Perouse in deep thought I could just picture the ships out in the bay... Thankfully back in blighty if I want to experience some great historic sites I don't have to travel so far, there is a local landmark that has world wide significance right on my door step. The place I'm talking about is Cromford Mill that was built by the legendary father of industry Sir Richard Arkwright, just 1 year after that famous Captain landed in Australia.

[caption id="attachment_1881" align="alignnone" width="600"] Sir Richard Arkwright's Mill Number 2 at Cromford[/caption]

I feel ashamed to say that as I live so close to this great place I have passed it bye many many times, I never really gave it a thought when I was younger and I do regret that now. Cromford Mill is a very popular place for local schools to visit, sadly I missed out on that trip as I had moved for one year to a small village near Stocksbridge in Sheffield at the time. I really should have visited before, like I say I had passed so many times and kept telling myself I would stop one day for a look. Today, I decided it was high time to come and learn some of the great history this place holds.

[caption id="attachment_1882" align="alignnone" width="600"] Sir Richard Arkwright's Mill Number 1 at Cromford[/caption]

I knew about Sir Richard Arkwright, how could I not. The history lessons at school covered him in great detail, I must admit it was great to finally be stood inside the court yard of the place this great man created. The weather today was perfect, a fresh autumnal morning and the sun was casting a great light over the area. I walked to stand beside the watercourse and recorded an AudioBoo.

listen to ‘Cromford Mill - Sir Richard Arkwright’ on Audioboo

So here are the facts. Cromford Mill was the first water-powered cotton spinning mill developed by Mr Arkwright. The power of the water from Bonsal Brook and Cromford Sough were harnessed to power his patented Water Frame. The patent was later over turned as it was found that the design was sold to him by a gentleman called John Kay, a clock maker and mechanic who had helped Thomas Highs build the original invention of the water frame. It was Arkwright however who made the system work and housed it in Mill number one in 1771 creating the worlds first factory. A second larger mill was built at Cromford between 1776 and 1777.

[caption id="attachment_1883" align="alignnone" width="600"] Steve Messam's "Twisted" in Number 1 Mill at Cromford[/caption]

The Mill buildings have seen many uses over the years, Water shortages began to become a problem in the second half of the 19th century so they were diversified. One housed a laundry, others a brewery, then the site was eventually sold on to a company who produced colour pigment for paint. Thankfully however, the entire site is now owned by the Arkwright Society. They have set themselves the task of returning it to its former glory to provide an educational resource and to preserve this great historic place. They have stripped away some of the newer buildings that were not part of the original plan and you can find out more on their great website at http://www.arkwrightsociety.org.uk/. They have done such a great job that the site has been recognised by UNESCO and is now part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

[caption id="attachment_1884" align="alignnone" width="600"] Steve Messam's "Twisted" in Number 1 Mill at Cromford[/caption]

Inside Mill number one there is currently an Art installation that was designed by Steve Messam and is called "Twisted". It is 70,000 metres of Red polyester thread, 2 frames at either end of the building are connected by thousands of red thread and it twists half way down. It looks like some kind of vortex as you look down the centre towards the other side of the Mill.

listen to ‘Cromford Mill - Inside Mill Number 1 Built In 1771’ on Audioboo

Inside Mill number 2 which was finished in 1777 there is a room which houses a great exhibition/museum of facts about the history of Mr Arkwright and his work along the Derwent Valley. It was great to wander around and learn some great facts and fill in some of the blanks in my knowledge about the man and his work. For some reason I had always thought the mill had been powered by the River Derwent but thankfully that miss information was corrected here today, As I mentioned earlier it was actually powered by Cromford Sough and Bonsal Brook... You Learn something new every day, which is the way I like it :-)

[caption id="attachment_1885" align="alignnone" width="600"] The Original Mill Bell from 1771[/caption]

I'm so pleased I visited today, after walking the Derwent Valley Heritage Way and my walk last week from Cromford to Via Gellia I knew I had to visit the Mills. If you haven't visited I would highly recommend you go and you can find more information over at http://www.arkwrightsociety.org.uk/, http://www.derwentvalleymills.org/ and http://www.cromfordmill.co.uk/.

Peak District - Derwent Valley Heritage Way

For a long time now I've felt the need to walk the length of the River Derwent, simply because it has featured in many of my great childhood memories. I thought that I could call the walk "City to Source", I'd walk from Derby all the way up to Swaines Greave high in the Peak District. When I finally decided to give it a go I went online and did a little bit of research. I found that there was already a way marked route that did exactly what I wanted to do, the route in question is the Derwent Valley Heritage Way.



[caption id="attachment_1683" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Map at Heatherdene[/caption]

The route stretches from Heatherdene on the banks of the Ladybower Reservoir in the Peak District, it goes via Bamford, Hathersage, Froggatt, Baslow, Chatsworth, Rowsley, Matlock, Matlock Bath, Cromford, Belper, Darley Abbey, Derby, Shardlow and ends Derwent Mouth where the River Derwent flows into the River Trent. The route itself is 55 miles long and it passes some spots of great historic interest. It can be takled in one go over a few days or it can be done in multiple sections whenever it takes your fancy.

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Derwent Mouth’ on Audioboo

[caption id="attachment_1681" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Masson Mill [/caption]

The section from Matlock Bath to Derby is of particular historic interest as it has been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is a snippet of factual text (borrowed from Wikipedia :-)) to give you more information... "The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site covers an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi) and spans a 24 km (15 mi) 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. 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."

[caption id="attachment_1685" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Heatherdene Sign[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1684" align="alignnone" width="600"] Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Derwent Mouth Sign[/caption]

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Electronic Failure’ on Audioboo

The guide to walking the way describes the route from North to South, I chose to begin my walk at Derwent Mouth and walk northward up stream. It was rather an eventful wander which saw me eventually having to switch my iPhone off due to the failure of my Power Monkeys Extreme Battery Charger. I was using my iPhone to track my walk and also to take pictures. I will be back again some day so I can plot out a more precise map of the journey... For now though I will leave you with a selection of images from my walk with a few archive shots thrown in.

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If you would like to give the Derwent Valley Heritage Way a go yourself then you can find out more by visiting http://www.nationalheritagecorridor.org.uk/. You can also download my route file from the Peak Routes GPX Archive

listen to ‘Derwent Valley Heritage Way - Near Borrowash’ on Audioboo