BUILDINGS AND SITES SAVED IN THE EAST MIDLANDS

HISTORIC ENGLAND SAYS THE TWO ARKWRIGHT COTTAGES ARE IN ‘POOR CONDITION’

- By ZENA HAWLEY

TWO buildings which form part of a key venue in Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site have been put on the annual Historic England Heritage at Risk Register for 2025.

The register gives an annual snapshot of the health of England's valued historic buildings and places and helps to ensure they can be protected and continue to be enjoyed in the future.

Cromford Mills was the historic home of the factory system of production. It was at Cromford in the 1770s that Richard Arkwright harnessed waterpower to drive his water frame cotton spinning machines.

He built 14 mill buildings and created an early industrial community, the forerunner not only of textile mills and mill towns of the Midlands and North of Britain, but across the world.

Newly at risk are Buildings 26 and 21, which are a pair of cottages constructed in around 1780, perhaps to house mill workers on call.

In around 1921, Cromford Colour Works established a dying plant on the site and produced pigments for paints and dyes. In 1924, Building 26 was purchased (then let) by WH Bently and named Grace Cottage after one of his daughters.

After 50 years, Cromford Colour Works abandoned the site, and it was put up for sale in 1979.

Cromford Mills, which by this time included many buildings contaminated by lead chromate, was purchased by The Arkwright Society which is bringing them back into use. The site is now a popular visitor attraction. Building 26 is not in use and Building 21 is used for archival storage.

Buildings 26 and 21 have been added to the Heritage at Risk Register because they are in very poor condition. Historic England has awarded a grant of around £25,000 for project development work, which will include surveys and a feasibility study of potential sustainable new uses.