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As well as Quiltessential, there are other specialist retailers on site at Arkwright's Cromford Mill and two excellent cafes
(one is across the road by the canal), which provide light meals and homemade cakes.
There is ample car parking nearby and mobility impaired customers can park directly outside the shop, which is wheelchair accessible.
The Mill is located in the beautifully picturesque Derwent Valley in Derbyshire.
Due to its early industrial significance the mill has been included within a UNESCO World Heritage Site which stretches 24km from Matlock Bath to Derby.
Two of the images shown are of Arkwright's Mill yard where Quiltessential is located inside the pair of green, sliding doors bearing our logo sign.
The other image shows a historic terrace of mill workers' cottages in nearby Cromford village.
The Arkwright Society provide informative guided walks around the mill and Cromford village. See their website for more details.
Cromford Mill was Sir Richard Arkwright's first and most important cotton mill,
at which he pioneered the development of his water frame spinning machine and revolutionised the manufacture of cotton thread,
thereby laying one of the cornerstones of the Industrial Revolution.
Arkwright began his career in the Nottingham area,
but in 1771 he and his partners moved to Derbyshire to take advantage of the potential water-power available from the streams and rivers there.
Cromford was chosen as a suitable site and the water from Bonsall Brook and Cromford Sough (a lead-mine drain) were utilised to power the mill.
The first mill here was built in 1771 and a further one added in 1776.
Arkwright developed further patents and the mill buildings were further expanded until 1791, when they reached their greatest extent.
Efficiency increased when the Cromford Canal spur opened in 1793 giving Arkwright a cheap and easy way of transporting both
raw materials and finished goods to and from the site.
The mills at Cromford with their powered machinery, large workforce and factory village became models for others throughout Britain and abroad.
For the Victorians, who learnt so much from his example, Arkwright earned the accolade 'Father of the factory system'.
By 1840, however, the mill was already out of date and had been overtaken by the steam-powered mills in Lancashire and the Masson Mill upstream
towards Matlock Bath. The second mill was burnt down in 1890 and only the original mill survives, along with some secondary buildings such as the Counting House.
The building was derelict when the Arkwright Society acquired it in 1979 and approximately £3 million has been spent restoring it,
a process which is still ongoing, subject to the availability of funding.
The information above was taken from these websites:
www.cressbrook.co.uk
www.arkwrightsociety.org.uk
Further information about Cromford, the Mill and other important sites within the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site can be found at the following website:
www.derwentvalleymills.org
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