Belper East Mill. Derbyshire. July 2020
The Belper East Mill (1912) completely overshadows the North Mill. A fortress-like, seven-storey building with four corner turrets, Italianate tower and rows of windows, it was constructed by the English Sewing Cotton Company in 1912 in the distinctive Accrington red-brick, which had by this time become the preferred building material for textile mills - whether built in Lancashire or elsewhere.
It is built around a steel frame, which by 1912 had long been entirely free-standing; unlike William Strutt’s structures, which relied on the walls of the building to support them. No scaffolding was used to build the East Mill. Despite this, there were few accidents during construction. The only death recorded in the press was of labourer Edward Frost of Bonsall, struck by lightning whilst inserting a steel girder in the ground just a week into the project.
Today the building, although used for offices, is largely empty and in a run-down condition.
Belper is perhaps most famous for its place in the Industrial Revolution, and the presence of the imposing mills that once dominated the town and its people.
It was the mills of Jedediah Strutt, on land bought for him by William Slater, that transformed Belper and brought prosperity to the town which before then was more of a hamlet.
From a farming background in South Normanton, Jedediah worked as a wheelwright before perfecting the Derby rib machine with his brother-in-law William Woolatt. Building on early success with Richard Arkwirhgt at Cromford, Strutt moved on to build the Belper mills from around 1775.
I understand that the first to be built was the South Mill, around 1776, then the North Mill (1784-1786) which is the only one of Strutt's mills to stand today and even that has been replaced due to a fire in 1803.
Across the road from the first site were built the West Mill (1795) and other mill buildings joined by a gangway that is now thought to have provided protection for the Counting House, also a Round Mill Building, a Reeling Mill and a Junction Mill.
North Mill, 1804, is the oldest of the two remaining mills - West Mill, South Mill, and Round Mill, were demolished. The largest and most prominent mill building in Belper today, East Mill, was not in fact a Strutt property but was built by the English Sewing Company in 1912.
Belper East Mill. Derbyshire. July 2020
The Belper East Mill (1912) completely overshadows the North Mill. A fortress-like, seven-storey building with four corner turrets, Italianate tower and rows of windows, it was constructed by the English Sewing Cotton Company in 1912 in the distinctive Accrington red-brick, which had by this time become the preferred building material for textile mills - whether built in Lancashire or elsewhere.
It is built around a steel frame, which by 1912 had long been entirely free-standing; unlike William Strutt’s structures, which relied on the walls of the building to support them. No scaffolding was used to build the East Mill. Despite this, there were few accidents during construction. The only death recorded in the press was of labourer Edward Frost of Bonsall, struck by lightning whilst inserting a steel girder in the ground just a week into the project.
Today the building, although used for offices, is largely empty and in a run-down condition.
Belper is perhaps most famous for its place in the Industrial Revolution, and the presence of the imposing mills that once dominated the town and its people.
It was the mills of Jedediah Strutt, on land bought for him by William Slater, that transformed Belper and brought prosperity to the town which before then was more of a hamlet.
From a farming background in South Normanton, Jedediah worked as a wheelwright before perfecting the Derby rib machine with his brother-in-law William Woolatt. Building on early success with Richard Arkwirhgt at Cromford, Strutt moved on to build the Belper mills from around 1775.
I understand that the first to be built was the South Mill, around 1776, then the North Mill (1784-1786) which is the only one of Strutt's mills to stand today and even that has been replaced due to a fire in 1803.
Across the road from the first site were built the West Mill (1795) and other mill buildings joined by a gangway that is now thought to have provided protection for the Counting House, also a Round Mill Building, a Reeling Mill and a Junction Mill.
North Mill, 1804, is the oldest of the two remaining mills - West Mill, South Mill, and Round Mill, were demolished. The largest and most prominent mill building in Belper today, East Mill, was not in fact a Strutt property but was built by the English Sewing Company in 1912.