I really just fancied a spin up to the peak District today, but with the forecast being a little uncertain I popped into Belper. It sits on the river Derwent in the Amber Valley just north of Derby. The town was a centre for nail making but with the river Derwent it was able to take advantage of the abundance of waterpower from the river to become one of the very first mill towns.
You can see by the size of the weir, there was some serious horsepower extracted here. One of Richard Arkwright’s pals, Jedediah Strutt built this first mil that went up in flames. The replacement is now a well-known landmark.
Interestingly, a local guy called A B Williamson developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings. The development of nylon stocking after WWII made this substance useless until the mechanics found out it was amazingly good for cleaning oily hands and is still sold today as Swarfega.
Belper, from nylon stockings to Swarfega, some people get all the fun.
David Moore 