Arkwright's imposing red brick Masson Mill is situated on the west bank of the
River Derwent in Matlock Bath, near the south entrance to the dale. This mill
was built in 1783 and is sited close to Willersley Castle, the house Arkwright
built for himself within the parish of Matlock. Willersley Castle is slightly
down river on the opposite bank from Masson Mill and the mill is hidden from
view. Unfortunately for Arkwright, fire damage meant that Willersley was not
completed until after his death.
Richard Arkwright built his first mill in 1771 in the nearby
village of Cromford, at the end of the dale. The Cromford mill
was the world's first water powered cotton spinning mill. It
was the subject of a very powerful painting, dated about 1783,
by the Derby painter Joseph Wright. This painting is called
'Arkwright's Cotton Mills at Night' and all the mill windows
are illuminated; it must have been an awesome sight. The artist
went on to paint Arkwright's second Cromford mill in 1776.
Masson Mill was Arkwright's third mill and the photograph
of it, above, was taken looking up river. The white bar just
discernible in the centre of the picture is the weir that held
back the water for both the cotton mill and a nearby paper
mill - which was built before the cotton mill. Slightly lower
left of centre is where the mill stream returns to the river. |
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Photograph of Masson Mill beside the River
Derwent in Matlock Bath
Reproduced with the kind permission of Frank Clay |
In 1840 Adam said that Masson Mill "is replete with the improved
machinery employed in making cotton thread"[1].
He also described the night time view as "exceedingly imposing.
The spacious mill, with its hundred lights reflecting on the
river and the thick foliage, mingling the din of wheels with
the noise of the waterfall"[1].
Not everyone approved of the mill. Firth was less than flattering
about the architecture in 1908 when he described "the great
brick cotton mills with their stone quoins and windows, and their
tall chimney"[2].
The chimney, which has been restored within the last few years,
had not been erected long before Firth wrote this. He clearly didn't
think much of either the mill or Glenorchy Chapel, which he said
was uglier even than the mill.
Firth wasn't the only person to voice criticism. Around eighty
years earlier Rhodes had written in "Peak Scenery"
that "... a cotton mill obtrudes on the scene. _ What is such
an object to do in such a place? _ Its presence here, amidst
some of the finest scenery of nature, is only calculated to
disturb ... In another place, the weir near the cotton mill
might be a pleasing object; but in a scene like Matlock dale,
where every artificial interference is offensive, it is incongruous
and out of place"[3].
A little earlier, in 1811,
Davies had described the mill workers and their housing: "The
spacious and elegant mansion of Richard Arkwright Esq. ...
together with the numerous dwellings of the persons he employs
[at Cromford]. This is indeed a different scene from the
calm and sequestered environs of Matlock ; but it is by no
means an unpleasing one ; for industry and neatness are combined
to give an air of comfort and animation to the whole of the
surrounding district ; and cold and unfeeling must be the
heart which does not experience gratification at the sight
of happy human faces, or know a sentiment of delight at hearing
the sounds of merriment and cheerfulness amongst the poorest
of their fellow mortals"[4].
Arkwright worked long hours himself and expected the same
from his employees.
Ownership remained with the Arkwright family until 1897
when Masson Mill became part of the English Sewing Cotton
Company.
At the turn of the century (19th
to 20th) the man in charge of of Masson Mill was John Edward
Lawton, who built a very imposing house overlooking
the mill. When Lawton's house was first built it was called
Woodbank but was later known as Cromford Court. Mr. Lawton
was described as "being the chief director of the
English Sewing Cotton & American Thread Combines, which
have a value of £8,000,000 in shares"[5] at
the time.
Kelly's 1908 Directory stated that "the Masson Cotton
Mills .... give employment to many of the inhabitants"[1908].
By 1922 the Masson Cotton Mills were "now the property of
Sir Richard Arkwright and Co. Limited (branch of the English
Sewing Cotton Co. Limited)"[1922]
and the mill continued to be a major employer in the district
for many years. |
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Employees of Cromford & Masson
Mills[6]
Beginning of nineteenth century -
1150
(150 men, 300 women, 700 children)
1845 - 1200 hands
Owner & employer: Mr. Peter Arkwright |
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In recent times the mill building has been turned into a Museum
and shopping centre.
 Masson
Mill (this site will open in a new window) |
In December 2001 UNESCO´s World
Heritage Committee in Finland awarded World Heritage status
to the two mills, along with other notable mill sites in
the Derwent Valley. Arkwright's buildings have, therefore,
been acknowledged to be of importance to the whole world.
Read
"The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities"
(Go to details of this book) |
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born Preston 23 December, 1732; died Cromford 3 August 1792
Image © Ann Andrews
Arkwright was one of the greatest men in the British Industrial
Revolution; some say that he was the greatest. He was a "self-made
man", being born into a poor household and a large family. He
received a little education, but was largely self taught. Richard
Arkwright began his working life apprenticed to a barber and
later travelled the country buying human hair, which he then
dyed using a secret recipe he had and sold to wig-makers. He
was acquainted with a Warrington clockmaker called Kay, who became
a mechanic for him and went to Nottingham with him.
In 1770 Arkwright entered
into a partnership with Samuel Need of Nottingham and Jediah
Strutt of Derby. Adam said of the inventors and mill owners
generally that "they have opened new and boundless fields of employment[1]".
They totally changed life in Britain.
Richard Arkwright bought the Willersley estate,
which lies within the parish of Matlock, from Thomas Hallet Hodges
Esq. in 1782.
Willersley Castle, Matlock
Built by, but never lived in, by Arkwright
He was knighted in 1786 when he was the Sheriff of the county and
arms were granted a little later. Reverend
Davies, who regarded Arkwright as a genius, said that "He
was knighted by his present majesty[7],
on the 22nd of December, 1786, on occasion of presenting an address,
as high sheriff of the county of Derby"[4].
Davies also wrote that "at the same time that he was inventing
and improving the machinery ... he was extending his business
on a large scale ; he was introducing in every department of the
manufacture a system of industry, order and cleanliness, till
then unknown in any manufactory where great numbers were employed
together...[4]".
He added "that during this entire period, he was afflicted
with a grievous disorder (a violent asthma) which was always extremely
oppressive, and threatened sometimes to put an immediate termination
to his existence, his great exertions must excite astonishment.
For some time previous to his death, he was rendered incapable
of continuing his usual pursuits, by a complication of diseases
which at length deprived him of life ..."[4].
Davies continued with "The merits of Sir Richard Arkwright
may be summed up by observing "that
the object in which he was engaged, is of the highest public value
; that though his family were enriched, the benefits which have
accrued to the nation, have been incalculably greater ; and that
upon the whole he is entitled to the respect and admiration of
the world"[4].
Arkwright led and others followed - and his ideas about a factory
system were reproduced from the German mill of the same name (Cromford
Mill in Ratingen, Germany) to, many years later, Titus Salt's factory
at Saltaire near Bradford. But Arkwright had to be wary of others
trying to steal his inventions. It was for that very reason there
were no windows onto the roadway on the ground floor of Cromford
Mill. He also had to undergo two trials regarding his patents.
His patents were set aside as a result of these trials but recent
research, discussed in "The Derwent Valley Mills and their
Communities", shows he should not have lost.
Benjamin Bryan described how, a few days
after Arkwright's death, the whole population of the district
turned out to line the roadsides when his funeral at Matlock
took place[6]. He
was at first buried at the Parish Church, but when Cromford
Church was completed his body was moved and reburied there.
See
Matlock St. Giles burials for 1792 |
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Additional Notes
To celebrate the bicentenary of the building of his first
mill at Cromford the Arkwright Festival was
held in 1971. The picture of Arkwright, above, is on a small
commemorative plate produced for the festival.
Joseph Wright's famous privately owned portrait of Sir Richard
Arkwright shows a seated Arkwright resplendent in scarlet
jacket and striped cream and green waistcoat with a model
of the machine which revolutionized the cotton industry on
the table beside him[8].
There is a painting, Three Children of Richard Arkwright
with a Kite (1791), also by Wright of Derby, that is listed
amongst the Collections of the Tate Gallery, London.
Three
Children of Richard Arkwright with a Kite
Tate
Gallery, London
His will is held by the Public Record Office and you can
purchase and download a copy of it.
See: Will of Sir Richard Arkwright of Cromford, Derbyshire
04 September 1792 PROB 11/1222
http://www.documentsonline.pro.gov.uk/
There is more onsite information about the Arkwright family:
Matlock
Biographies See ARKWRIGHT
Description
of ARKWRIGHT Coat of Arms
Pedigree
of ARKWRIGHT
Arkwright
Family MI's
Matlock
and Matlock Bath Trades Directories & Census
Cromford,
DBY : Trades Directories and a little about the village
Wolley
Manuscripts, Matlock
'The
Beauties of England and Wales' (1802), cotton manufacturing,
the mills, Willersley & the surrounding area, Sir Richard
Arkwright
External Links:
National
Portrait Gallery Search the collection |
Suggested Further Reading
- Fitton, R.S. and Wadsworth, A.P. (1958)
"The Strutts and the Arkwrights 1758 - 1830",Manchester
University Press
- Fitton, RS (1989) "The Arkwrights, Spinners of
Fortune", Manchester University Press ISBN 0/7190/2646/6
- Unwin, G. (1924) "Samuel Oldknow and the Arkwrights
1758 - 1830", Manchester
- Dictionary of National Biography, Volume I - Look under
Arkwright, Sir Richard
- "The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities"
See on site details
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The
Arkwright Society has done, and is still undertaking,
an enormous amount of restoration work at Cromford Mill.
Their address is:
The Arkwright Society,
Sir Richard Arkwright's Cromford Mill,
Mill Lane,
Cromford,
Derbyshire,
DE4 3RQ
Visitor Services Department :
Telephone +44 [0]1629 823256
Or visit:
Arkwright
Society web site |
References (coloured links go to transcripts or information elsewhere on this
web-site):
[1] Adam, W. (1840) "The Gem of
the Peak" London; Longman & Co.,
Paternoster Row. There are extracts
on this web site
[2] Firth, J.B. (1908) "Highways
and Byways in Derbyshire" MacMillan & Co., London
[3] Rhodes,
Ebenezer (1824) "Peak Scenery" pub.
London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster
Row, pp.250-251
[4] Davies, David Peter (1811) "History
of Derbyshire" pub. S. Mason, Belper. Derbyshire's
Parishes, 1811 is based on this book
[5] "The Derby
Mercury", Wednesday, December 5, 1900
[6] Bryan, Benjamin (1903) "History
of Matlock - Matlock, Manor and Parish" London by Bemrose & Sons,
Limited
[7] Davies was referring to King
George III
[8] Information
from: The Masters Volume 22: Wright of Derby (1966)
Purnell and Sons, Bristol.
[1908] "Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire",
1908, Matlock Bath. There is a names only transcript.
See 20th
century directories
[1922] "Kelly's Directory of
Derbyshire", 1922 (not transcribed on this site)
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Sir Richard Arkwright
