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Cromford
Cromford is nestles snugly amongst spectacular rocky scenery and sits astride the main A6 Derby road at the southern end of Matlock Dale deep in the Derwent Valley. The wide open spaces of Cromford Meadows opens to the south, with cricket having been played here for at least two centuries. It is still home to the Cromford Cricket Club, and the Meadows complex also caters for the sports of rugby and soccer and in its congenial surroundings, the Cromford Steam Fair is held annually.
Cromford is also known as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution for this was where the world`s first water-powered cotton mill in 1771. The character of the village was completely transformed in the early years of the 19th century when Scarthin Nick was blasted through with dynamite to make way for what later became the A6, thus annexing the industrial mill complex on the east side of the main Derby road and the Market Place and village at the bottom of the hill which climbs steeply westward towards Wirksworth, on the other.
The building of the mill was complimented by the creation of houses for mill workers workers, a school, a chapel, and an inn in the Market Place. Richard Arkwright, the creator of Cromford as it is known today went on to become High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1787, the same year that he had received his Knighthood and in 1790 he secured the right to hold a market on Saturdays in the village.
Just beyond Cromford Bridge is the site of the original ford over the Derwent from which the village takes its name, and on the left, the entrance to the rich pasture land of Willersley Castle, now a Methodist Guest House and Conference Centre.
Today Cromford attracts artists wanting to be inspired by the fabulous scenery and the idyllic romanticised rural setting of the picturesque mill-pond with its resident pair of swans, and the nostalgic atmosphere of the raised promenaded walk along The Scarthin. The Scarthin rises from a corner of the Market Place with it's hotel, restaurant and shops, narrowing as it reaches the Boat Inn (1772) which stands virtually opposite the post-office,- and then broadens into a very attractive iron-railed promenade with it's War Memorial displaying the names of the valiant men of The Scarthin who fell in the First World War.
Cromford has a nearby Community Centre and a small garden of remembrance with a Memorial dedicated to the men of Cromford who fell in the 2nd World War.
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