Darley Abbey

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1 Family brought work and wealth to village

Family brought work and wealth to village

An early 20th century photograph of Monk's House which is the only surviving building from the original abbey

The Boar's Head Cotton Mill

Darley Abbey is a village situated just two miles from the centre of Derby. The village is located on the River Derwent and is associated with the world heritage site of Derwent Valley Mills.

Few traces remain of Darley Abbey itself, which was founded in about 1140 and which later became the richest and most powerful abbey in Derbyshire. The land and properties owned by the abbey covered an extensive area, not only in Derbyshire, but also in Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire.

Like many others, most of Darley Abbey was lost following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. The majority of the buildings of the once proud monastery were destroyed within two years of the passing of the act.

The only ones which survived were a building in Darley Street, converted into a public house in 1980, some stonework to houses in Abbey Lane and a burial ground beneath Hill Square.

The Mills

Water, in the shape of the River Derwent, was the driving force behind the development of the village and its industrial heritage.

In the 1730s, four mills – a paper mill, corn mill, fulling mill and leather mill – all existed in the village, powered by the Derwent.

The village was transformed by the Evans family between 1782 and 1840 from a quiet little backwater to a site of early industrial significance which retains an important place in the country’s heritage.

The Evans family

Spool or reel turning machines in the Boar's Head Mill

Women working on cotton winding machines

Thomas Evans, born in 1723 and educated at Cambridge University, was the driving force. His enterprise produced great wealth and considerable influence for the family.

He expanded the family business and became a leading industrialist. In 1771, he entered into partnership with Samuel Crompton, who had been mayor of Derby four years earlier, and formed the Crompton and Evans Bank.

Both Sir Richard Arkwright and Jedediah Strutt were customers of the bank, which later became known as Thomas Evans and Son, when Samuel Crompton lost interest.

The Boar’s Head Cotton Mill, on the east bank of the River Derwent, which was founded by Thomas Evans, was one of the most important industrial enterprises in an age of great innovation and progress.

Indeed, the Boar’s Head trademark, which Evans used to market his thread, achieved recognition in many parts of the world as a symbol of quality.

Following the construction of the six-storey cotton mill in 1783, extensions took place at regular intervals. The mill complex eventually comprised of five main mills and an assortment of sheds where dyeing and drying took place.

It was destroyed by fire in 1788 and rebuilt with sheets of tin nailed to the beams as protection.

Other buildings on the site were used for offices, stabling and domestic purposes. A weir was constructed diagonally across the Derwent to control the flow of the river and a bridge built to link the village to the cotton mill.

Three story cottages

Cottages in Brick Row which were built by the Evans family for their mill workers

All this industrial development required a substantial labour force and the Evans family set about the task of acquiring and maintaining sufficient people to meet the growing demand for labour.

This was no easy task as many framework knitters blamed the factory system for taking away their livelihood and independence. There was also a suspicion about the working conditions in factories.

Generous inducements were offered to potential workers in the form of above-average wages and new, well-built brick houses, together with a parcel of land and a cow. The houses were mostly of three storeys in height, the first phase being built at Flat Square, Hill Square, Brick Row and the upper part of Mile Ash Lane.

About 10 years later a second phase was added in New Road and Lavender Row and, finally, by the 1870s, the lower part of Mile Ash Lane. The four houses in Mile Ash Road, built during the early 1790s, are the oldest surviving examples of cluster houses, joined side-to-side and back-to-back.

Apart from providing houses, the Evans family had an elegantly designed school built, with spacious classrooms, well-lit by large windows and a handsome clock set high in the front wall.

They also built St Matthew’s Church, provided a playing field for the village, bathing facilities on the riverbank, a free medical service and organised a carnival at Whitsuntide.

Thomas Evans had Darley House built in 1783 but it was demolished in the 1930s and the only building that remains is the Gate Keeper’s Lodge.

In 1844, the Evans family moved to Darley Hall, which Alderman William Woolley had built more than 100 years earlier. The Evans family era ended with the death of Ada Evans, the widow of Walter Evans, in 1929. The estate was broken up and the village of Darley Abbey went into decline.

In the 21st century, the old village of Darley Abbey is now regarded as a desirable place to live. The mills built by Thomas Evans, on the east bank of the Derwent, remain largely intact. Although no longer used for cotton spinning, they are still in use for a diverse range of purposes.

Features

Darley Park is a picturesque park featuring many different gardens and wildlife areas.
St Benedict Catholic School is one of the largest schools in Derby with around 1500 pupils. The school dates back to 1986, but with several schools previously occupying the site including St Ralph Sherwin. Operating under the head teacher Christopher Reynolds OBE the school has got state of the art CCTV cameras.
St Mary's Catholic School, which dates to 1814 and has since moved to a new building on three separate occasions, is located in Darley Abbey on Broadway.

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