Wonders of the Peak

Buxton Museum & Art Gallery

Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site

Making Connections

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wagon of enthusiasts tour High Peak Junction
In 1855 a passenger service ran on the Cromford and High Peak Railway – 25 years after the line opened. 22 years later the service was pulled, although in the 1960s enthusiasts jumped aboard for this special tour. Many walkers up the inclines may have wished the train was still running but passengers still had to disembark and walk up the hills.

The workshops at High Peak Junction are where the pioneers of transport built and repaired the waggons that ran on the Cromford and High Peak Railway. They are the oldest surviving railway workshops.

The Cromford Canal shipped goods in and out of the Valley to the South. The railway was an even more ambitious solution to create a direct line across the Pennines to Manchester. Originally there were no locomotives and the waggons were pulled by horse. Enormous steam engines (similar to the one that powered the Leawood Pump) moved the waggons up the inclines over the moors to over 1000 feet.

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Long John’s Jay Bird

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John Smedley’s trademark Jay references the founder’s name ‘John’. It sits on an S shaped branch representing ‘Smedley’. Today you’ll still see the distinctive colours of John Smedley’s Jay insignia on the factory’s footbridge over Lea Road.

The Smedley family joined the move in the Derwent Valley towards the production of finished garments, rather than just fabric and thread. The Jay became a reliable symbol of luxury underwear, and ‘Long John’s’ undoubtedly originate from these factories. The industrial revolution marked the start of the growth of branding. Think about the brands you wear today- they are often more than just a mark of ownership and quality: what do they say about your identity?

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Gang Mine Nature Reserve

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Spring Sandwort. Copyright Shirley Freeman. WildNet

Lead mining is the reason Arkwright built his Mills in the Derwent Valley. The water that pumped out of the mines to Cromford was always warm providing water for the Mills that never froze. The history around the Mills has left many unique features for Wildlife. Gang Mine Nature Reserve is part of Middleton’s ancient lead mining area.

Today the lead spoil heaps are of little agricultural use, and only a small number of plants are able to tolerate the high concentration of minerals. Among the species that thrive here are the nationally rare spring sandwort, and alpine pennycress – known as leadwort.

Alpine Pennycress. Copyright Philip Precey, WildNet

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Trains through the town centre

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The first time a railway was built through the middle of a town. George Stephenson, the pioneer of railways and steam trains, engineered this route through Belper. In the 1840s this was the only route for trains to York and the North-East from London.

Belper developed rapidly as an industrial town from the 1770s and blocked the planned route for the railway along the valley. George Benson Strutt did not want the line to wreck his mills or upset the flow of water in the river that powered them. Stephenson’s solution still has the eleven original bridges that he built to carry the roads that crossed the route at the time. [Read more…] about Trains through the town centre

Masson Mill. Wheels of power

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Extract of George Robertson’s watercolour of Masson Mill (c.1790) looking upstream. Shows the waterwheel.
Copyright Derby Museums

Masson Mill was built in 1783 next to the River Derwent to take advantage of a greater water flow.  It was the first of Arkwright’s mills to use the power of the river.

Initially the mill was powered by a single waterwheel until 1801. It was then replaced by two waterwheels which continued to generate power to keep the machines working throughout the 19th century. Turbines were installed in 1928.

The mill’s overall layout is very different to Arkwright’s mills at Cromford.  The entrance and staircase are centrally located leaving production floors clear for the huge cotton spinning machines.

Today, engineering and technology advances are still relevant to Masson Mill.  There are now turbines using the fast flowing river Derwent to make hydroelectric power for the Valley.

Cromford Wharf. A hive of industrial activity where goods came into and went out of Cromford

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Crane on the end of Cafe building

Over 200 years ago the canal was the main transport route connecting Cromford with the outside world.  Not only did it carry goods but it was vital for communication – the broadband of its day. And we thought dial-up slow!

Within the wharf area there was a warehouse, a weighing machine, saw pit, counting houses, stables and a smithy. What other evidence of industry can you spot here?  Look out for the crane on the end of the cafe building, used for loading goods.

Notice in the wide canal area where the canal splits for the two wharf sheds, there is an arched stone boat house. This was Arkwright’s private boathouse, at the bottom of his garden.