NATIONAL STONE CENTRE TO NEW MILLS
A TO Z – DERBYSHIRE AND THE PEAK DISTRICT – CHAPTER 32
NATIONAL STONE CENTRE (1 mile north of Wirksworth, off the B5035 Cromford to Carsington road – SK287553)
The National Stone Centre is in an area of disused quarries overlooking the town of Wirksworth, and the High Peak Trail passes by it. Derbyshire is the largest quarrying area in the country, and in the 1990s, it produced 20 million tons of stone a year. It made the county an ideal site for the National Stone Centre, an educational charity supported by over eighty public, industrial, and academic organisations.
It was built on the site of six disused quarries, which were abandoned in the mid-1960s after providing stone for the construction of the M1 motorway. There is an exhibition area at the visitor centre, a gem shop and a large café.
Outside the visitor centre, the quarry trail takes you back over three hundred million years. Viewpoint panels along the way indicate where you are: the bottom of a lagoon, the side of a reef, or by the tropical Derbyshire coastline.
NETHERSEAL (southeast Derbyshire, near Swadlincote – SK287132)
Most of the old village lies within a conservation area, featuring attractive cottages set around a village green. The 13th-century St Peter’s Church is where Nigel Gresley’s father was rector. Nigel’s early life was spent at the rectory in Netherseal, before attending school in St Leonard’s, Sussex, and later Marlborough College in Wiltshire, where he developed a flair for engineering and mechanical drawing. One of his drawings, completed at the age of 14, still hangs in the gallery of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London.
Following his appointment as an apprentice to the London and North Western Railway Company, he rose rapidly through the ranks. He was appointed as chief mechanical engineer of the new London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. Shortly afterwards, one of the most famous engines of all time, the Flying Scotsman, was built. In 1934, it became the first steam locomotive to reach 100mph. Two years later, Nigel was knighted and shortly afterwards another of his famous locomotives, The Mallard, set the world steam record between Grantham and Peterborough, a record that still stands today. A year later, the 100th Pacific locomotive, built to his designs, was named the Sir Nigel Gresley. He died on 5 April 1941 and was buried at St Peter’s Church, Netherseal.
NEW MILLS (on the A6015 which links the A624 and A6 – SK000854)
Spectacular New Mills! However, many people who drive through the town by car are utterly unaware of the secret beauty that lies beneath, due to the high bridge parapets. Torrs Riverside Park provides access to a dramatic gorge and an area of stunning natural beauty. The Park also contains the remains of what was an important industrial area, with the elegant Millennium Walkway winding for 125 yards through the gorge, high up among the canopy of trees.
The ingenuity of Sir Richard Arkwright in the 1770s at Cromford, utilising waterpower to drive machinery, revolutionised spinning and weaving. Set in a natural gorge, The Torrs had the joint waterpower of the Rivers Sett and Goyt. Rocky waterfalls and cascades enabled the construction of weirs, providing a controlled supply of water. The ledges along the riverbank, above the floodwater level, were ideal to build on. Equally important, the sandstone rocks at the side of the gorge meant the builders did not have to go far for their materials.
When steam power started to replace water, the next generation of mills was built on high ground on the other side of the gorge at Newtown, alongside the Peak Forest Canal and close to the railway station. In 1884, the problem of access between New Mills and Newtown, on opposite sides of the gorge, was solved with the building of the mighty Union Road Bridge, one of the highest road bridges in this part of the country.
NEW MILLS – MILLENNIUM WALKWAY
Only a short distance down the steps from the Heritage Centre is the Torrs Millennium Walkway. The Derbyshire County Council’s in-house engineers, not specialist bridge designers as might have been expected, constructed it. The walkway spans the otherwise inaccessible cliff wall above the River Goyt – part on stilts rising from the riverbed and partly cantilevered off the railway retaining wall. It provides the final link in the 225-mile-long Midshires Way. Most definitely, it is well worth making a special journey to New Mills to cross the gorge, as many people already have done.
NEW MILLS – TORRS HYDRO
Torrs Hydro began producing electricity on 4 September 2008. In doing so, it became the first community-owned and funded hydropower scheme operating in the country. It cost about £300,000 and is expected to generate 260,000kW/h of electricity each year for the foreseeable future. An Archimedean-type screw system produces electricity. The water flowing into the top of the screw is held in pockets, which are pulled down by gravity as the screw turns. The power produced is used by the Co-operative Store in Church Road, with any surplus sold to the National Grid.
