Summary
Late C18 mill offices, workshop and warehouse with attached arched link building.
Reasons for Designation
Buildings 14, 15, 16 and the bridge link at Cromford Mill, constructed in the late C18 as mill offices a workshop and warehouse, are listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* the mill was constructed in the C18 by the entrepreneur Sir Richard Arkwright who was pioneering in his use of water power to mass-produce cotton thread, which came to be of outstanding importance in the development of textile mills;
* for its technological interest as an exceptionally early survival from the first generation of water-powered textile mills which illustrates the wider trends in the history of this industry;
* dubbed the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the mill complex became the blueprint for factory production, with Arkwright’s factory system replicated internationally.
Architectural interest:
* the buildings are good examples of a late-C18 industrial buildings and while austere, are of clear quality and design interest;
* good quality late-C18 features survive including mullion windows and coursed stonework.
Group value:
* the late-C18 buildings survive remarkably well as a group and help to demonstrate the functioning of this early textile mill complex.
History
The development of the cotton industry in the Derwent Valley in the late C18 has been determined as a key precursor to the Industrial Revolution in Britain. This development initially began with the construction of the Silk Mill in Derby in 1721 for the brothers John and Thomas Lombe, which housed machinery for throwing silk, based on an Italian design. However, it was not until Richard Arkwright constructed a water-powered spinning mill at Cromford in 1771, and a second, larger mill in 1776-1777 powered by the Bonsall Brook and the Cromford Sough, that the ‘Arkwright System’ was truly established. This system was a true blueprint for factory production and was soon replicated elsewhere in Britain, and later in other parts of the world. Along the valley, industrial development followed soon after in Belper (1776-1777), Milford (1781) and Darley Abbey (1782), with these four principal industrial settlements articulated by the river Derwent. Into the C19, the mills along the Derwent Valley were limited in their possibility for growth due to topographical constraints and distance from ports through which cotton was imported. This limitation has to an extent ensured their survival. Overall, the landscape created by Arkwright’s factory system remains largely intact.
The construction of the first mill (now known as the Upper Mill or Building 18) at Cromford commenced in 1771. In its original form the building contained 11 bays and was five storeys in height. It was originally powered by an overshot wheel with water brought to it by an aqueduct. The aqueduct would have passed narrowly above the entrance to the building on the east elevation, which is framed by a classical, Gibbs surround. In the 1780s, the mill was extended by 10m adding four additional bays at the north end, with a water wheel added to the north gable. The site expanded in this period with the majority of buildings constructed to the east of the first mill.
Building 14 was constructed in the 1780s and its precise use is not known but may have been used as a workshop on the ground floor. The upper floors are thought to have possibly housed knitting frames where the wall below some windows is slightly recessed. The building was originally linked at first and second floor level to the second mill.
Building 16 is understood to have been constructed during the main expansion of the site in the 1770s and 1780s. It is thought to have originally been used as a warehouse with an office or counting house at the west end. The use as a warehouse has been suggested due to the large door opening and height of the window openings. Building 15 to the east was added at a later date as an infill building to numbers 14 and 16 building, 16 originally having a hipped roof at its east end. 15 is wedge shaped with four bays facing to the yard, five to the road. A relieving arch over the culvert to the canal dates it to around 1793 when the culvert was required or later.
From around 1840 the production of cotton at Cromford ceased due to the lack of an adequate water supply which severely limited production. Thereafter the buildings were put to other uses including a brewery and cheese warehousing, its main uses being as a colour works (1914-1979) and a commercial laundry (1895-1966). A fire in 1929 destroyed the two upper storeys of the Upper Mill, and the building was subsequently re-roofed in asbestos sheeting. The Arkwright Society purchased the site in two phases in 1979 and 1988 and oversaw the restoration of the mill buildings. The site is currently (2023) open to the public.
Details
Late C18 mill offices, workshop and warehouse with attached arched link building.
MATERIALS: constructed of millstone grit blocks under a slate roof.
PLAN: the buildings are linear and oriented roughly north-east to south-west.
EXTERIOR: the principal north-west elevation of the three storey buildings faces into yard of the mill. Altogether the buildings are 20 bays, with the apsidal end of building 16 attached to the arched link building to the west (building 22). Building 14 is over seven bays and is situated at the east end of the row, featuring a door at both the west and east ends with eight-over-eight sash windows situated in-between in the second, third and sixth bays. Above, both first and second floors have seven evenly spaced sash windows. The later building 15 is situated to the west and contains four bays, with two sash windows between two entrances on the ground floor, one opening to each bay. Above are four sash windows to each floor, all eight-over eight. To the west is building 16 with nine further bays facing north into the yard. The two upper floors have a regular fenestration with two-pane casements within each bay. The ground floor has an entrance door in the second and ninth bay, with a large opening contained within the fifth bay. A framework of steel joists was inserted by the colour works to accommodate heavy floor loading. Every other bay on the ground floor has a window with the two at the east end at a slightly higher level than those to the west.
The west elevation of the building is apsidal and is connected to the arched link building (building 22). The apsidal elevation has openings at each level to either side of the link building. The arched link building is constructed of red brick with a shallow segmental arch providing access to the mill yard from the road, allowing access between buildings 16 and 17 at the first and second floor. There is a small window opening at the centre of the link building on both levels.
The north-east elevation of building 14 features a single door at the centre of the ground floor, with two timber two-paned windows on either side. These have vents above each pane.
The south elevations of the buildings face onto the road with buildings 14 and 15 featuring a largely blind ground floor with the exception of a single door and window opening at the east end, both under ashlar lintels. At the level of the first floor are a series of ventilation grates, suggesting a use as stabling with regularly spaced sash windows in each of the bays above on the first and second floors. Building 16 has a series of two-pane windows at second floor level but is otherwise blind with the exception of two large, eight-over-twelve sashes at the east end of the ground floor.
INTERIOR: the ground floor of building 14 contains a large open room and is connected to an additional room within building 15. There is a stairwell at the north-east end of the building. Interior walls at this end of the building are brick. The first floor has a connecting doorway into building 16, leading through into a large room with modern partitions. The second floor is a similar open space, with connecting doorways between the buildings, the building’s roof trusses are also visible. At the west end of building 15 is the remains of a hot air heating system; the heating system utilises flues which were constructed as part of the east end wall of building 16. The east end of building 16 may have originally been the location of offices, with fireplaces present on the ground and first floors. The west end of building 16 is understood to have housed a counting house, with this end of the building retaining some late-C18 doors. The building also retains an early wrought-iron fire door leading into building 15 to the east.
