Site Research - Lumsdale Valley (matlock)
The Site is in Derbyshire, The Lumsdale Valley is hidden away tucked high above Matlock. The Arkwright Society enabled us to visit and observe the ruins of the site that is there to this day. They stepped in when the Valley fell in to disuse in the 20th century.
The site is a tranquil and beautiful valley, containing ruins of the Lumsdale mills which is no considered a piece of history. The valley had various uses, including cotton spinning, bleaching, and grinding corn, bone and minerals for paint manufacture. About 1930 is when the site became of disuse, the site was then purchased by Marjorie mills in 1939, this was to make sure the mills remained intact and had no threat of being demolished. The year 1979 led to a committee of Lumsdale residents and Arkwright Society members was former to guarantee the sites security.
Three principles of this committee are:
1. The mills and other buildings, for the most part, would not be restored but be frozen in their picturesque decay.
2. The public was to be offered access to as much of the site as could be made safe by means of paths, stiles and fencing.
3. The charm of the wooded areas was to be retained wherever the trees were not endangering structures or public safety.
Today the Society continues to develop its management plan for the Valley – maintaining public access and retaining and improving the Valley's woodland and wetland habitats which now form part of a conservation area. The map below shows the conservation area within the region:
The site is a tranquil and beautiful valley, containing ruins of the Lumsdale mills which is no considered a piece of history. The valley had various uses, including cotton spinning, bleaching, and grinding corn, bone and minerals for paint manufacture. About 1930 is when the site became of disuse, the site was then purchased by Marjorie mills in 1939, this was to make sure the mills remained intact and had no threat of being demolished. The year 1979 led to a committee of Lumsdale residents and Arkwright Society members was former to guarantee the sites security.
Three principles of this committee are:
1. The mills and other buildings, for the most part, would not be restored but be frozen in their picturesque decay.
2. The public was to be offered access to as much of the site as could be made safe by means of paths, stiles and fencing.
3. The charm of the wooded areas was to be retained wherever the trees were not endangering structures or public safety.
Today the Society continues to develop its management plan for the Valley – maintaining public access and retaining and improving the Valley's woodland and wetland habitats which now form part of a conservation area. The map below shows the conservation area within the region:
The Bentley Brook:
Part of the valley owned by the Society there are at least seven mills remaining, including a bleach works, all of which were powered by water coming from the Bentley Brook.
Bentley Brook is a narrow, fast flowing and powerful stream. It starts behind the Matlock golf Club and flows down the valley until Conjoining with River Derwent at Matlock Green. The power of this stream enabled many successive generations to use and produce a series of mills in the valley that operated for several centuries. They used ingenious systems of ponds and water courses to drive a variety of water wheels.
The power of Bentley Brook has carved an impressive series of waterfalls from the limestone, and has led to tragedy in the recent past. On December 10, 1965, heavy rain caused major flooding in Derbyshire, leading to three fatalities, including a 58-year-old railway worker, George Ellis, who was found dead in Bentley Brook in Matlock, two days after he had last been seen attempting to cross a flooded car park bordering the Brook."We cannot help remarking on the terrible effects produced by this stream, when swollen into a mighty torrent. But of how much utility is this little busy stream in its gentleness, in turning so many mills, giving employment to so many busy hands, and thus in many ways contributing its quota of benefit to the well-being of man."
Part of the valley owned by the Society there are at least seven mills remaining, including a bleach works, all of which were powered by water coming from the Bentley Brook.
Bentley Brook is a narrow, fast flowing and powerful stream. It starts behind the Matlock golf Club and flows down the valley until Conjoining with River Derwent at Matlock Green. The power of this stream enabled many successive generations to use and produce a series of mills in the valley that operated for several centuries. They used ingenious systems of ponds and water courses to drive a variety of water wheels.
The power of Bentley Brook has carved an impressive series of waterfalls from the limestone, and has led to tragedy in the recent past. On December 10, 1965, heavy rain caused major flooding in Derbyshire, leading to three fatalities, including a 58-year-old railway worker, George Ellis, who was found dead in Bentley Brook in Matlock, two days after he had last been seen attempting to cross a flooded car park bordering the Brook."We cannot help remarking on the terrible effects produced by this stream, when swollen into a mighty torrent. But of how much utility is this little busy stream in its gentleness, in turning so many mills, giving employment to so many busy hands, and thus in many ways contributing its quota of benefit to the well-being of man."