Cromford Mills

Cromford Mills, in Derbyshire, was built from 1771 by Richard Arkwright, the leased site being served by the Bonsall Brook and a lead-mine drainage channel to power what became the world's first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill. The five-storey Upper Mill, constructed of coursed gritstone lined with brickwork, was extended by four bays in the late 1780s as the works grew. The mill complex now forms part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed for its series of 18th- and 19th-century cotton mills and associated industrial landscape. The buildings survive as one of the most complete early textile factory complexes in England.