Cromford Conservation Area Appraisal

Cromford Conservation Area Appraisal CROMFORD CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL page Summary 1 1. Cromford in Context 2 2 Origins & Development 3 Topography & Geology Historic Development 3. Archaeological Significance 17 4. Architectural and Historic Quality 19 Key Buildings Building Materials & Architectural Details 5. Setting of the Conservation Area 50 6. Landscape Appraisal 53 7. Analysis of Character Areas 71 1. Derby Road & Intake Lane, Rock House, Mill Road & Cromford Mills, Cromford Canal 2. Masson 3. Market Place 4. Willersley, Church Walk & Cromford Station 5. Scarthin, Water Lane & Bonsall Hollow 6. The Hill, North Street, Bedehouse Lane & Barnwell Lane 8. Negative Factors 101 9. Neutral Factors 109 10. Justification for Boundary 110 Recommendations for Amendment 11. Conservation Policies 115 National Planning Guidance Regional Planning Guidance Local Planning Guidance Appendix 1 Statutory Designations (Listed Buildings & Scheduled Monuments) Appendix 2 Registered Historic Park & Garden Willersley Castle i CROMFORD CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL List of Figures Fig. 1 Aerial Photograph Fig. 2 Cromford in the Derbyshire Dales Fig. 3 Cromford Conservation Area Fig. 4 Identification of Character Areas Fig. 5 Cromford Tithe Map of 1841 Fig. 6 First edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880 Fig. 7 Building Chronology Fig. 8 Planning Designations Fig. 9 Trees and Woodland Fig. 10 Appraisal Zones Fig. 11 Relationship of Structures & Spaces (a-f) Fig. 12 Conservation Area Boundary - proposed extensions (a-d) Fig. 13 Conservation Area Boundary as revised and approved December 2006 Fig. 14 Conservation Area Boundary as revised and approved September 2007 ii CROMFORD CONSERVATION AREA APPRAISAL List of Historic Illustrations & Acknowledgements Pl. 1 Engraving of Allen’s Hill with Scarthin Rock, from the vicinity of the market place, circa 1750 (by kind permission of the Arkwright Society) Pl. 2 Extract from Sanderson’s map “Twenty Miles round Mansfield” 1835 (by kind permission of the Local Studies Library, Derbyshire County Council) Pl. 3 Extract from Cromford Tithe map of 1841 - former open field (by kind permission of the Derbyshire Record Office) Pl. 4 Extract from Cromford Tithe map of 1841 - New Close Pl. 5 Scarthin circa 1905, showing the tiered rows of terraces (by kind permission of Picture the Past) Pl. 6 Matlock Enclosure Map of 1784 Pl. 7 Sir Richard Arkwright - by Joseph Wright of Derby (copyright private collection) Pl. 8 The complex at Cromford Mills (Tithe map 1841) Pl. 9 Arkwright’s Cotton Mills by Night, Joseph Wright of Derby (copyright, private collection) Pl. 10 A view of Masson by George Robertson (by kind permission of Derby Museums & Art Gallery) Pl. 11 The Blue Bell Inn, circa 1880 (by kind permission of Picture the Past) Pl. 12 George Robertson sketch of Willersley and the Derwent valley c1800 (by kind permission of the Arkwright Society) Pl. 13 Cromford Railway Station circa 1900 (by kind permission of Picture the Past) Prepared by Mel Morris Conservation Ipstones, Staffordshire ST10 2LY on behalf of Derbyshire Dales District Council December 2006 Updated January 2007 Updated November 2007 iii SUMMARY The distinctive characteristics of Cromford can be summarised as follows: Cromford today is considered to be a village, but such was the importance and scale of the industrial • a working community which depends on development of the settlement, that by 1840 it was quarrying and associated industries and as such identified as a “township” and, with its terraces has a ‘gritty’ nature which has, so far put a halt on lining the streets, it maintains a certain urban over-prettification character. • association with Sir Richard Arkwright, one of The historic character is predominantly that of an the most significant figures of the Industrial estate village, where common materials and details Revolution were employed by a single landowner, who • an industrial core of mill buildings threading managed all aspects of life. However, there are through the valleys, accompanied by complex exceptions to this, which are documented in this systems of water management & control appraisal. • significance of Bonsall Brook & River Derwent The development of the village was rapid and as power sources for mills extensive between 1771, when Richard Arkwright first arrived in Cromford, and 1840, when most of • a linear ribbon development of planned industrial the development stopped. It provided an early housing model of an industrial community. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the village • terraces forming long, almost continuously was developed further, although this later enclosed, street frontages, often accompanied by development has had little impact on the historic raised pavements core, which survives remarkably well preserved. It was largely its remoteness that has led to the high • dramatic topography & geology of two gorges, degree of preservation of the original mills and mill riverside and lush wooded setting village. • use of locally quarried, deep pink gritstone for the historic buildings Although it is largely associated with Richard Arkwright, Cromford had an earlier phase of • large quantity of traditional paving materials development, in part associated with lead mining, employing both local gritstone & limestone and this appraisal looks holistically at all the physical evidence for its appearance today. • yew trees planted to punctuate the street & within parkland The dramatic relationship between the built structures and their landscaped setting is one of the • the prevalent use of gritstone for boundary walls most marked characteristics of Cromford. The arrival of Arkwright in Cromford coincided with a • a manufactured, engineered & designed national appreciation of the picturesque qualities of landscape the landscape and Matlock Bath had already become renowned for its dramatic scenery and • formal open spaces created to front several natural beauty. By the end of the 18th century, buildings at Church Walk, The Market Place, the watercolour artists were painting the scenes within parkland lawn to Willersley Castle, the canal the Matlock Gorge and including within these wharf, the millyard, the Promenade, the lawns & Arkwright’s industrial mill buildings. parkland to Rock House, the War Memorial Garden In many cases, the houses of highest status were • informal open spaces (millponds, water placed carefully and deliberately to make the most meadows, Allen’s Hill) of the views, and situated on heavily engineered sites, rather than in the most practical location. In • large numbers of historic ancillary structures and addition to this kind of engineering, over the last spaces; privies, pigcotes, cowhouses & allotments two centuries there has been considerable removal of material to excavate sections of the limestone • predominance in views of Willersley Castle, the rock-face, create level routes for the local road principal landmark network and to import hardcore and soil to create level platforms for the mills and market place. 1 Cromford Conservation Area Appraisal 1. Cromford in Context CONTEXT OF THE CONSERVATION the WHS includes the majority of the conservation AREA area and the flood plain, delimited by the A6, on its southern edge, and Lea Road, on its northern edge. The district of Derbyshire Dales covers an area of In addition, the whole of the Derwent valley falls approximately 79,000 hectares (307 square miles), within the “buffer zone”, which is primarily the of which over half falls within the Peak District landscape setting of the valley, extending from National Park. The area is mostly rural in character ridge to ridge. A “buffer zone” is required by and comprises some of the most diverse and UNESCO to safeguard the setting of the site. scenically beautiful areas in Britain. The Planning Authority for the area outside the National Park is The World Heritage Site Management Plan Derbyshire Dales District Council. The largest describes the area as follows: settlements are the towns of Matlock, Ashbourne and Wirksworth. “The ensemble of industrial sites and settlements dating from the eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries situated in the Cromford lies roughly in the centre of Derbyshire, lower Derwent Valley in Derbyshire represents a unique 3 miles south of Matlock and 2 miles north of surviving example of outstanding human endeavour in what Wirksworth and has a residential population of the world has recognised as the “Industrial Revolution”. The 1,496. It supports a number of shops and small textile mills of Matlock Bath, Cromford, Belper, Milford, businesses. Darley Abbey and Derby were the forerunners of an explosion in the development of the textile factory system that The village lies mainly to the south of the busy A6, has led to the area becoming known as “the cradle of the new which is the main road connecting Derby with factory system”. Matlock. The Arkwright mill complex at both Cromford and Masson lie between the A6 and the Cromford was first designated a conservation area River Derwent. The A6 joins the B5036 at a T- on 22nd January 1971. This designation covered the junction at the foot of Scarthin Rock, which leads core of Arkwright’s estate village; Cromford Hill, up Cromford Hill to Wirksworth. North Street, the Market Place, Water Lane and Mill Lane. It also included Scarthin, Masson Mill, The conservation area covers the settlement and Willersley Castle and its grounds, and a narrow strip cotton mills developed by Richard Arkwright and following

Load more