Willersley Castle on the River Derwent in Derbyshire, Arkwright's house |
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In 1769 Arkwright moved to Nottingham and built a mill there in partnership with Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt.
Seeking a site for a water powered mill, he moved to Cromford in Derbyshire in 1771.
Here, in the Derwent valley, he built the world's first successful water powered cotton spinning mill. |
He also built houses and a chapel for his workers and their families, creating a factory village, which became a model for others throughout Britain and abroad.
Textile production at Cromford Mill ceased about 1840. The buildings were in use until 1979 when the Arkwright Society bought the mill and began restoration.
Arkwright and his partners also established mills in Bakewell, Gessbrook, Wirksworth, Masson, Keighley, Ashbourne, Bromsgrove and Manchester. In 1778 a mill was built at Birkacre, near Chorley, but it was deliberately set on fire by machine wreckers and never rebuilt. |
