The history of purpose-built water-powered textile mills in the British Isles began in 1721 with Lombe’s Silk Mill at Derby (if we exclude fulling mills), and continued from 1771 at Cromford with the first of the cotton-spinning mills that were erected to house Arkwright’s ground-breaking water-frame.¹ All were primarily functional buildings, built and run with profit as the overriding motive, but their design was influenced by many factors other than functionality.² The architectural history of several mills has been studied in recent years,³ although synthetic publications such as those compiled for the mills of Yorkshire, Manchester or South-West England⁴ are still lacking. We are, therefore, well placed to study the functional and socio-cultural influences upon mill architecture⁵ and the impact of mill design upon buildings such as model farms (Objective 9E).

Mill design underwent a continual process of development, centred on improvements in their construction and operation.⁶ Despite much work on this subject, there remains significant scope for further research on the design implications of the developing and often innovative technology. An important aspect of the early mills, for example, was experimentation with space heating, where heat was circulated via horizontal and vertical ducts: pioneering work that is significant for wider studies of heating and ventilating technology.⁷ Changes in mill morphology also merit further attention, including study of the development from the mid-19th century of the integrated textile factory, comprising sprawling complexes that might include preparation buildings, spinning blocks, weaving sheds, finishing works, warehouses, leats and reservoirs.⁸ This could also include research into the impacts of new forms of power and changing building materials. From the social and cultural perspectives, debate continues on how far mill builders were influenced by polite architectural styles. Some structures, including the elaborate frontispiece of Masson Mill or the gritstone and red Accrington brick Italianate water tower of the East Mill at Belper, imply a desire to impress, and further study of the relationship between vernacular and polite styles, the social implications of these choices and the motivations and preferences of the mill owners would be beneficial. Other areas for study, drawing upon available documentary, buildings and archaeological evidence, include: the control of work-spaces and operational practices; regulation of the workforce and any evidence for resistance to this; security provisions; evidence for social, political, ethnic and gender identities in the design and use of buildings; and, with the emergence of industrial brands from the late 19th century, the projection of corporate images.⁹

Mike Nevell

Fig.4.45 The imposing brick-built frontispiece of Masson Mill, with its stone dressings, lunettes and Venetian windows of Palladian inspiration, proclaims Arkwright’s growing wealth and social aspirations (photograph © David Knight) 

References

¹ Menuge, A 1993 ‘The cotton mills of the Derbyshire Derwent and its tributaries’. IAR 16 (1) 38–61; DVMP 2011 The Derwent Valley Mills andtTheir Communities. Matlock: DVMP

² Palmer, M et al 2012 Industrial Archaeology: A Handbook. York: CBA, 184–205

³ Menuge 1993; eg Arkwright Society 1971 Arkwright and the Mills at Cromford. Matlock: Arkwright Society; Calladine, A 1993 ‘Lombe’s Mill: An exercise in reconstruction’. IAR 16 (1), 82–99; Chapman, S 2015 Sir Richard Arkwright’s Masson Mills, Matlock, Derbyshire. Chesterfield: Merton; Menuge, A 2006 Boar’s Head Mills: A Survey and Investigation of the Cotton Mills and Ancillary Buildings. Swindon: EH

⁴ Eg Williams, M 2013 Textile Mills of South West England. Swindon: EH

⁵ Jones, E 1985 Industrial Architecture in Britain 1750–1939. London: Batsford; Belford, P 2004 ‘Monasteries of manufacture: Questioning the origins of English industrial architecture’. IAR 26 (1), 45–62

⁶ Fitzgerald, R S 1988 ‘The development of the cast iron frame in textile mills to 1850’. IAR 10 (2),127–45; Giles C, 1993 ‘Housing the loom, 1790–1850: A study of industrial building and mechanisation in a transitional period’. IAR 16 (1), 27–37

⁷ Menuge 1993, 52–4

⁸ Palmer et al 2012, 191–92

 ⁹ Eg Mellor, I 2005 ‘Space, society and the textile mill’. IAR 27 (1), 49–56; also Strategic Objective 9D

Industrial settlements along the Derwent Valley display significant diversity in their architectural styles, the spatial arrangements of the dwellings and the processes impacting upon their development.¹ These settlements, which were laid out during the late 18th and 19th centuries, represent some of the earliest and most complete examples of cotton textile communities in the East Midlands² and beyond, and accordingly have received national prominence.³ However, research to date has traditionally focused upon a restricted range of building types, with an emphasis upon unusual forms such as the cluster houses of Darley Abbey and Belper⁴, terrace houses with top-floor workshops at Cromford⁵ and interlocking housing at Milford,⁶ and has generally followed the hypothesis that they were constructed by reference to a paternalistic agenda.⁷ Consequently, the narrative of the patron has dominated historical research.⁸ There are significant opportunities to broaden investigations to include all housing types and associated structures and to seek, therefore, a better understanding of the mill owners’ roles in settlement planning.

Recent work has begun to analyse in greater detail workers’ housing in Cromford, Belper, Milford and Darley Abbey.⁹ This research has sought to balance the traditional reliance on historical sources and the bias towards the mill owners by consideration of the surviving building fabrics and some of the socio-economic factors that might have impacted upon their construction. This approach has also highlighted the importance of understanding the influence of local building customs and established traditions of textile manufacture on the actions taken by mill owners. Further investigations are required to establish the developing morphology of these settlements, with regard especially to investment in community amenities such as schools or chapels¹⁰ and strategies for provisioning the workers’ families: for instance, by the building of pigcotes and the establishment of allotments and market facilities. Additionally, much greater emphasis should be placed upon the restrictions that might have been imposed on new workers’ housing by established land ownership and tenurial arrangements and the specific impacts of land-use rights upon housing developments and their associated infrastructure. To achieve these ambitions, new research needs to promote the investigation of the surviving building fabric alongside study of the documentary records relating to early housing developments. This should also help to answer wider questions, such as the extent to which individual mill-owners might be considered genuinely paternalistic in the development of these industrial settlements and how their world views impacted upon settlement character.

Suzanne Lilley

Fig.4.46 Swift’s Hollow, Cromford: late 18th or early 19th century pigcote, incorporating a shelter and an open area for exercise with feeding troughs (photograph © David Knight)

References

¹ DVMP 2011 The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities. Matlock: DVMP

² Palmer, M and Neaverson, P A 1992 Industrial Landscapes of the East Midlands. Chichester: Phillimore

³ English Heritage 2011 Listing Selection Guide. Domestic 2: Town Houses; https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/dlsg-town-houses/

⁴ DVMP 2011, 51–5, 74–7

⁵ Buxton, D and Charlton, C 2013. Cromford Revisited. Matlock: DVMWHS Educational Trust, 112–14

⁶ DVMP 2011, 59–61

⁷ Eg Chapman, S D 1976 ‘Workers’ housing in the cotton factory colonies, 1770–1850’. Textile History 7, 112–39

⁸ Fitton, R S and Wadsworth A P 1958 The Strutts and the Arkwrights, 1758–1830. Manchester: MUP

⁹ Lilley, S 2015 ‘”Cottoning on” to workers’ housing: a historical archaeology of industrial accommodation in the Derwent Valley, 1776–1821’. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of York; Peers A 2010 ‘East and West Terrace, Hopping Hill, Milford, Derbyshire’. Transactions Ancient Monument Society 54, 83–119

¹⁰ Hughes, S 2005 ‘Institutional Buildings in Worker Settlements’. IAR 27 (1) 153–62

Studies of the impact of industrialisation upon domestic building traditions in the Derwent Valley have focused traditionally upon the industrial settlements that were developed by the mill owners from the late 18th century,¹ with comparatively little emphasis upon the impacts of pre-factory industrialisation on building forms or usage. A review of the evidence for domestic buildings and associated structures predating the factory colonies is long overdue, and would provide a valuable benchmark against which the architectural changes of the later 18th and 19th centuries could be judged. It would also enable informed assessment of the potential of the Valley’s built environment resource to elucidate the impact of early industry upon building construction methods and materials, their internal spatial organisation and architectural styles.²

A review of the buildings resource prior to c.1750 would chime well with some of the research actions recommended in the Farmstead Guidance documents that are being developed by the Peak District National Park in liaison with stakeholders and Historic England, although the methodology proposed in these would need some refinement for historic settlements.³ These documents will include a Farmsteads Character Statement and Recording and Research Guidance, with advice on research priorities and recording methods, and will complement reports that have been prepared recently for neighbouring Staffordshire.⁴ Surveys of Peak District farms have emphasised the importance of establishing whether traces of earlier structures might survive in buildings that, from external inspection, appear to date from the late 18th or 19th centuries and, if so, whether evidence for domestic-based textile production or other industrial activities might survive. Detailed survey, aimed at locating and recording early domestic structures, such as that shown here at Dalley Farm,⁵ would address directly the questions highlighted above. It is recommended, therefore, that a systematic survey of Derwent Valley farm buildings be undertaken for this purpose, with expansion later to consider historic settlements. A detailed survey of this kind could employ the methodologies recommended in the forthcoming Farmstead Guidance document, while the pattern of landscape character types that has been defined for Derbyshire⁶ would provide a useful geographical framework for study. The results could be fed into the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record, ensuring that information would be readily available for future use, both as a research resource and as a management tool in the assessment of development threats to the World Heritage Site’s internationally important built environment heritage.

Mike Nevell

Fig.4.47 Dalley Farm, near Belper. This early 19th century model farm incorporates a 17th century dwelling⁷ which in this c.1948 photograph can be seen projecting from the rear elevation of a c.1890 farmhouse (far left). The three narrow cast iron windows above the door compare with the elongated windows of textile workshops (Fig.4.21), while the farmer, John Fletcher, recalls that that the first floor had once housed stocking-making machines (source: Gilbert 2015, fig. 163; A Gilbert: pers. comm)⁷  

References

¹ Chapman, S 1976 ‘Workers’ housing in the cotton factory colonies, 1770–1850’. Textile History 7, 112–39

² Palmer, M et al 2012 Industrial Archaeology: A Handbook. York: CBA, 214–22

³ Lake J 2014 National Farmsteads Character Statement. Historic England; Lake, J 2015 Farmstead Assessment Framework. Historic England; https://historicengland. org.uk/images-books/ publications/national-farmstead-assessment-framework/

⁴ Lake, J and Taylor, D 2015 Staffordshire Farmsteads Assessment Framework. Staffordshire County Council;

https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/environment/eLand/planners-developers/HistoricEnvironment/Projects/ Farmsteads-Guidance-Staffs-Farmsteads-Assessment-Framework-Feb-15.pdf

⁵ Gilbert, A 2015 ‘The impact of industrialisation on agriculture in the Lower Derwent Valley’. Unpublished MA dissertation, School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, 67–99 (Chapter 5: Dalley Farm)

⁶http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/environment/conservation/landscapecharacter/

⁷ DVMP 2011 The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities. Matlock: DVMP, 58

The potential of laser survey as a tool for creating accurate high-definition and georeferenced digital surveys of standing buildings and their fittings has been demonstrated by surveys of several mills and other buildings as part of the Technology Then, Technology Now project,¹ including Boar’s Head Mill, Darley Abbey (Figs 4.40 and 4.48), Belper’s North Mill (Fig. 4.26) and Leawood Pumphouse (Fig. 2.1). The advantages of laser scanning over traditional recording methodologies are emphasised by the image below, which shows with startling clarity the wear patterns on factory floors. This provides graphic evidence for the position of machines and routes of movement, and highlights the unexploited potential of factory floor-wear patterns as evidence for changing machinery types and layouts, workforce circulation routes and changing patterns of production and organisation.²

Successful projects would need to be supported by robust methods for quality control, archiving and the dissemination of results,³ with leadership by a buildings specialist to guide the choice of factory spaces, ensure appropriate data evaluation and advise on methodological refinements during the course of survey. In common with the recently completed Technology Then, Technology Now project, such initiatives could provide excellent opportunities for community involvement in the collection, processing and interpretation of data. Projects of this kind would be expected to create a readily accessible archive of accurately measured and georeferenced digital surveys that could be analysed alongside documentary and photographic records to assist interpretation of observed variations in machinery layouts and workforce circulation networks. If evidence permits, it might also be possible to investigate temporal variability in circulation patterns. The datasets created by such work would also provide invaluable resources for future research and management initiatives, thus contributing to creation of the digital archive of building plans recommended above (Chapter 2.1.6). In addition, there is potential for the creation of publicly accessible photorealistic 3D digital models or virtual reality tours⁴ that would add value from an educational as well as research, management and visitor display perspective.

David Strange-Walker

Fig.4.48 Boar’s Head Mills: rendered laser-scanned point cloud of the third floor, coloured by elevation across a 7cm vertical range. The higher green and blue areas show where mill machinery once stood, while the lower red and magenta areas show eroded paths between machines (survey: D. Strange-Walker; source: Derbyshire County 

References

¹ Strange-Walker, D 2015 ‘Technology then and now’. Archaeology and Conservation in Derbyshire 12, 8–9

² See also Chapman, S D 2015 Sir Richard Arkwright’s Masson Mills, Matlock, Derbyshire. Chesterfield: Merton, 22–3, fig. 14

³ Andrews, D, Bedford, J and Bryan P 2015 Metric Survey Specifications for Cultural Heritage, 3 edn. Swindon: Historic England

⁴ Eg Morley Threads project: 3D model of machinery layout and internal architecture of 19th century cotton-spinning factory in Alfred House, Nottingham: http://www.hotknife.co.uk/preview/virtual-reality-occulus-rift-at-the-backlit-gallery/

The model farms that were built by the Strutt family around Milford and Belper during the early and mid-19th century were identified as significant components of the Derwent Valley’s cultural landscape at the time of its inscription on the World Heritage List, but little has been published on the effects of industrialisation upon agriculture and farm designs. Published material includes brief descriptions¹ and discussions² of the farms, but for further information researchers must delve into reports held in the Derbyshire Historic Environment Record³ and the substantial body of Strutt family records preserved in the Derbyshire Record Office. Recent research by Alex Gilbert⁴ has emphasised the potential of the latter for study of the complex relationship between industrialisation and agriculture, and provides a valuable insight into this rich but rarely considered⁵ resource.

There is, within the local research community, a debate into the extent to which farms built by the Strutts were a reaction to the growth in the need for foodstuffs or were more a response to the fashion of gentry landowners to build model farms.⁶  Whatever their exact motivations, scrutiny of the Strutt family’s meticulously compiled business records reveals a complex system of production and distribution, geared to feeding the local workforce, that was gradually transformed during the 19th century as regular rail services provided new opportunities for the import of food products. What seems beyond dispute is the considerable extent to which forms of fire-proof building construction and modes of processing material, developed for industrial purposes at the mills, were adapted for agricultural application to the model farm complexes.⁷ The link between factory and farm is illustrated convincingly by Gilbert’s study of the buildings at Dalley Farm, the flows of raw materials and outputs between them recalling strongly the strict division of tasks on the factory floor– and emphasising the extension to the countryside of factory-based models of work, behaviour and authority.⁸

Another enquiry within the local research community is into the possibility of links between the remarkable density of small field barns in Bonsall Parish, the population growth in and around Cromford that was prompted by Arkwright’s activities in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and the late 18th century enclosure of Bonsall Moor and Bonsall Leys.⁹ The opportunity remains for further systematic investigation of the evidence for local population growth arising from lead mining; domestic textile production and expansion of the cotton mills; increased demands for foodstuffs and resultant changes in agricultural practices; and assessment of how and to what degree field barn expansion might reflect these changes. Another aspect of the food-producing economy that is of interest, and that would merit further investigation by reference to the Strutt records (particularly the ‘Provision Books’), is the extent to which the communities’ food needs were supplemented by the cultivation of allotments, many of which still survive.

Barry Joyce

Fig.4.49. Dalley Farm: the transfer to farm buildings of mill design and construction techniques is shown by the use in this c.1835 hayloft (left) of cast iron columns that resemble closely the roof supports employed at Belper’s North Mill (right; photographs © Alex Gilbert)

References

¹ DVMP 2011 The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities. Matlock: DVMP, 57–8, 67, 93

² Wade Martins, S et al 2003 ‘The Strutt farms of the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire’. Journal of the Historic Farm Buildings Group 17, 11–35

³ Eg Storer, A 1998 ‘Report on Crossroads Farm, Blackbrook, Belper, Derbyshire’; Wiltshire, M 2008 ‘Bonsall field barns’

⁴ Gilbert, A 2015 ‘The impact of industrialisation on agriculture in the Lower Derwent Valley’. Unpublished MA dissertation, University of Sheffield

⁵ Eg Fitton, R S and Wadsworth, A P 1958 The Strutts and the Arkwrights. Manchester: MUP, 249–51

⁶ Wade Martins, S 2002 The English Model Farm: Building the Agricultural Ideal, 1700–1914. Macclesfield: Windgather Press

⁷ Wade-Martins 2002, 112

⁸ Gilbert 2015, 68–99; Barnwell, P 2005 ‘Farm buildings and the Industrial Age’. IAR 27 (1), 113–20

⁹http://www.bonsallfieldbarnproject.org;Wiltshire 2008