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.

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.			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
			Matlock Bath: Woodbank, later Cromford Court Matlock Bath: Woodbank, 1910 Coloured view of Woodbank and Arkwright's Mason Mill taken from Harp Edge Matlock Bath: The Rutland Arms & Masson Mill - early twentieth century photograph 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)

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.

He was knighted in 1786 when he was the Sheriff of the county and arms were granted a little later. 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' (pp.492-493"^[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 ..." (p.492^[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" (p.493^[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" (p.92), 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			Engraving of Willersley Castle, 1802 Matlock: Willersley Castle Includes some information about Willersley after the Arkwright family had left Cromford, St. Mary's Church, where, several members of the Arkwright family are buried, is in a different section of this web site Willersley Castle Terrace, 1933
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
			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 / Cromford Mill 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)