Cromford Mill
Spurred on from watching Time Team on Channel 4 last night when they were excavating one of Arkwright’s mills in central Manchester, I thought i’d pay a visit to one of his surviving mill buildings in Derbyshire on the way back from Nottingham.
Cromford Mill was featured in the first series of Restoration on BBC2 so it was somewhere I had seen before. I was a bit disappointed by the fact the complex is a building site with piles of stone and rubble littering the courtyard. Having said that though, all the remaining buildings now look near enough externally complete and are home to craft shops, book shops and the like. The free parking got a big thumbs up from me as well… but it’s limited and I wouldn’t expect much space at weekends.
[7 photo's behind cut]
Across the road from the Mill complex is the Cromford Canal.
The Mill complex from inside the courtyard. The covered row of stone in the bottom of the picture is from a wall of a 5 story mill building which no longer exists.
Formerly a 5 story mill, the top two floors were destroyed in a fire in 1929. Work to replace the mill waterwheel (circular hole in wall denoting where the central shaft will go) are progressing.
Waterfall which presumably would have been used to provide power to a 5 story mill which originally stood on this spot.
The tallest mill building which remains.
Panorama (it really is flat there!!)
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