Lumsdale & Matlock: There are quite a few places I’ve been to which claim to be where the industrial revolution started, but Lumsdale near Matlock where I went for a walk with Linda on Wednesday 23 October 2019 perhaps has a better claim than most apart from the nearby Arkwright mill in Cromford built in 1771, the first modern factory.
Lumsdale is a steeply sloping valley with a small stream the Bentley Brook tumbling down it, apparently never running dry. It housed industrial mills from the 17th century on and is a site of national archaeological and historic importance. Among the industries that worked there were lead, textile, paint and timber.
The mills at Lumsdale were on a smaller scale than Arkwright’s Cromford Mill and are now only ruins – I think the last closed in 1927.
The area is now owned by the Arkwright Society and can be explored on a permissive footpath. Parts have been fenced off since my visit for safety reasons and I think some of my pictures were taken in these. But it remains an area where you need to take great care near steep drops, especially if like me you sometime suffer from a little vertigo.
Although there is little or no parking in the area there have always been quite a few visitor in my several visits to the area. In 2014 it became a scheduled Ancient Monument.
around 1600. Bones were heated and then crushed to be used as pigments. The mill only closed in 1920.
Linda and I were in Matlock to look after grandchildren and walked up from Matlock after taking them to school. After exploring the valley we walked across to the top of Matlock for an unexciting pub lunch and then walked on to the top of Matlock Bank.
We walked around a little at the top of the Bank then came down the steep hill to the bridge over the Derwent. In 1893 when Matlock was a popular spa town a cable-hauled tramway was built to take people up and down the 300ft hill. The fare was 2d up and 1d down. It felt a little mean to me charging for taking people down as I think their weight would actually be helping to pull people up. But the tramway closed in 1927, being replaced by a bus service. So far I’ve always walked up, but usually feel by the time I near the top I should have taken a bus.
And back down to the River Derwent. I think we remembered to collect the kids from school.
More on My London Dairy at Lumsdale & Matlock.
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