For walking in Belper see the walk and link detailed below.
The Heritage Walk
Welcome to Belper, a key community within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. It was here in the 1770s that Jedediah Strutt and his sons began their pioneer cotton mill business, and by building and buying homes and facilities for their workers created one of the world’s first industrial communities.
The importance of the Belper mills and their historic industrial neighbours at Cromford, Darley Abbey and Derby was reflected by the World Heritage Site status given to the Derwent Valley Mills in December 2001. Belper is also within the National Heritage CorridorTM.
But Belper was not just known for cotton spinning – its industrial heritage dates back centuries, and was highly diverse. Two of Britain’s largest hosiery businesses were based in the town throughout the 19th century, whilst nail-making in the town dates back to the Norman Conquest. From travelling caravans to cotton vests, from rope to railway cuttings, from toffee to quality furniture – they were all produced in Belper and kept thousands of people in work.
One of the best know hosiery businesses of the 19th and 20th centuries was George Brettle and Co. Their Chapel Street premises are now the home of De Bradelei Mill and it is from there that this short walk through the town begins. This leaflet will help you find some of the most significant buildings in the town and show you a little of Belper’s industrial past and its wider setting. The end point is the Derwent valley Visitor Centre, inside Strutt’s North Mill, where you’ll find more information about the town. It is then just a short walk back to the De Bradelei Mill complex.
At De Bradelei Mill you will find an interpretation board which will tell you more about this industrial community and the hosiery industry.
Belper has an important industrial past, with cotton spinning, hosiery production, nail-making, a pottery and iron foundries providing a wide variety of employment for many, many years.
This walk begins at De Bradelei Mill, the one time headquarters of George Brettle and Co, one of the most renowned manufacturers of hosiery and other cotton goods. On this site, stockings were produced for George III and his grand-daughter Queen Victoria and it is said that the cotton vest worn by Admiral Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 was a Brettle’s vest. The interpretation board under the arches leading to the car park will tell you more about the company.
Walk through the large arch onto the main road – this is the A6, which follows the line of the 1818 turnpike road that eventually linked Derby to Manchester. From the archway, look right and you will see a large gritstone warehouse of 1850 on the far side of the roundabout. This belonged to Ward, Sturt and Sharp, another major hosiery company.
Turn left, walking along the A6 towards the town centre. Next to De Bradelei Mill is the Central Methodist Chapel of 1807.
Continue along the road, past King Street. Turn left on to Derwent Street and walk down until you reach the former Thornton’s factory on the left. The toffee manufacturer came to Belper in 1947. Before, it was a blouse factory and earlier, began life as a theatre where Gracie Fields once performed. Opposite the factory is the entrance to Unity Mill. Walk through to see the corn mill built in 1839 by James Webster and greatly enlarged by John Strutt from 1853. It was later converted to cotton spinning, then became a furniture manufacturer’s but is now an antique centre.
Return to Bridge Street (the A6), cross the road and walk under the arch by Frearson’s shop into Wellington Court. On the left is Wellington House where Will Hay, star of Ealing film comedies, stayed as he began his career in Belper. At the end of the stone terrace follow the road ahead, past the supermarket to the railway station of 1878. On the platforms you can see the recesses which once held the station buildings, and beyond these, looking north, the five road bridges which cross the stone-lined cutting designed by George Stephenson and associates.
Walk up the steps from the platform and follow the footpath which runs parallel to the platform, until you come out on Field Lane. Cross the road on to another path running parallel to the railway cutting. This is the Ropewalk, so called because it runs at right-angles to a ropewalk which ran along the back of the houses, and was used for rope-plaiting.
At the end of the Ropewalk we are in Joseph Street, which includes part of the industrial housing built by the Strutts. Note the Telford/Macadam-type road-surfacing to the right of you – a rare survival.
Turn left and walk down the road until you reach No 3 Clusters Court – opposite is a channel to George Street. Walk along it. As you pass through the channel note the old workshop on your left, now converted into a house. Although the Strutts primarily only wanted women and children in the mills, they provided workplaces like this for men so that whole families would want to settle in the town.
At the end of the channel turn left, past more Strutt housing, then at the bottom of the road turn right. You are now in Cluster Road. Beyond the Drill Hall of 1902 on the left is Piggy Hill, the channel running down to the main road, so-called as from 1896 it was used by butcher Edward Ryde to herd in fresh stocks of pigs for his slaughterhouse.
Carry on to the end of Cluster Road and turn left on to Long Row. On the right as you walk down to the A6 is Long Row School, provided by the Strutts for the community in 1818. In front of you, across the road is Christ Church of 1850, for which the Strutts were the main contributors. Bear right and cross the road at the crossing.
You are now in The Triangle, where there is an interpretation panel on the mills and the surrounding area. On the left is Pym’s, a solicitor’s office, which was once the mill armoury. Cross the road again, this time towards the big red mill, the East Mill of 1912. Turn left and under the bridge known as the Gangway of 1795, which linked the North and West Mills. Carry on along the road, turning right at the sign for the Derwent Valley Visitor Centre. You will find more information on Belper’s industrial past at the centre in Strutt’s North Mill, where tours of the mill are also available.
To return to De Bradelei Mill, simply return to The Triangle, turn right and follow the A6 road.