Milford Part 03 - East Milford
w/e 22 February 2015
All of this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
Milford

The second Heritage Walk around Milford described in a leaflet that can be downloaded from the Derwent Valley Mills website explores the part of the village that lies mainly to the east of the River Derwent.

Derby Road

Like the other two walks in the series it begins at the interpretation board on Chevin Road close to its junction with Derby Road which can be seen here over the community garden opposite the Strutt Arms public house. Initially the route is along Derby Road on the left hand side passing Chevin Alley and the remaining Milford Mill buildings to the northern side of the bridge over the Derwent.
Wheel-pits & Generator Room

It is here that I take issue with the authors of the route description for the next reference in the leaflet is to two wheel-pits either side of the Mill House public house. Now the Mill House and the pits lie to the south of the bridge between the rear of the Strutt Arms and the river and in my opinion should have been included in the third walk rather than this one. We did eventually discover the pits and the small brick building between them where the gentle hum of electricity generators could be heard.

Wheel-pit

The footprint of the original mill on the south side of the bridge is no longer discernible and the wheel-pits are all that remain to indicate its position. Through the railings surrounding one of the pits the power of the water is still obvious and some idea of the size of the construction can be gauged from my shadow opposite.
River Derwent

Gripe over, we returned to the northern side of the bridge where this gentle scene belies the power of the water that is still being harnessed to provide energy in the twenty first century thanks to the Strutts' early industrial development.
Former Ebenezer Chapel

As we crossed the bridge we were faced by a group of buildings dating from 1791 after the enclosure of common land. Derby Road turns sharply to the left to continue along the valley at the side of the river and is joined as it leaves the bridge by Makeney Road on the right which we will follow in the third walk. The first building in the group is at the end of Makeney Road and is the former Ebenezer Chapel which was converted in 1859 from the Durham Ox beerhouse. The beerhouse had been built in 1846 by Henry Brassington.
The King William

Sixteen years prior to the building of the Durham Ox, the King William pub next door had been built in 1830 on land purchased by John Hutton, a Belper surveyor and architect.
Cottages

The group under the cliff is completed by two cottages.

Quarry Cottages

Another adjacent group, like the first group sitting at the foot of a cliff face, is identified as Quarry Cottages.
Recreation Ground

And next along the road is a small recreation ground which occupies a piece of land that was worked as the said quarry until at least 1906.
View of River

Further into the walk the leaflet says that the river and the weir are to the left but at that point intervening housing and industrial units as we shall see later obscure the view. So it is here opposite the recreation ground that the best view of the river is seen although the weir is further upstream.
Holy Trinity Church

Shortly after the recreation ground is the Holy Trinity Parish Church, unusual in that it is built in a north-south orientation rather than the normal east-west. This is because of the constraints of the site which was donated by the Strutt family. The east window in fact, of the church built in an early English style by H. Moffat and completed in 1848 commemorates George Herbert Strutt who was actually born in Milford.
Hopping Hill

The church marks the approximate midway point of this walk and just beyond Hopping Hill splits off from Derby Road rising gently up the side of the valley. The name "Hopping" is derived from two Old English words "hop" and "ing" meaning "a small opening off a main valley" and "a clearing" respectively. Hopping Hill was the former turnpike road where Jedediah Strutt was responsible for the rows of cottages that were built for his workers in the 1790s. The present main road along the valley where we will continue in the next part of this walk was laid out by the Strutts about thirty years later.
Forward to Part 04 - East Milford continued

Home Page
Back to Milford Index
Special Features Index

Terms & Conditions of Use
This website is copyright but licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.
Please credit the photographer Garth Newton, or add a link to these pages.