Cromford and the Black Rocks

About trip

For many centuries Cromford, ‘the ford by the bend in the river’, was no more than a sleepy backwater. Lead mining brought the village brief prosperity, but by the 18th century even that was in decline. Everything changed in 1771 when Sir Richard Arkwright decided to build the world’s first water-powered cotton-spinning mill here. Within 20 years he had built two more, and had constructed a whole new town around them. Cromford was awake to the Industrial Revolution and would be connected to the rest of Britain by a network of roads, railways and canals. As you walk through the cobbled courtyard of the Arkwright Mill, now being restored by the Arkwright Society, you are transported back into that austere world of the 18th century, back to the times when mother, father and children all worked at the mills. Most of the town actually lies on the other side of the traffic-laden A6, including the mill pond which was built by Arkwright to impound the waters of Bonsall Brook, and the beautifully restored mill workers’ cottages of North Street. The Black Rocks The Black Rocks overlook the town from the south. The walk makes a beeline for them through little ginnels, past some almshouses and through pine woods. You’ll see climbers grappling with the 80ft (24m) gritstone crags, but there’s a good path all the way to the top. Here you can look across the Derwent Valley to the gaunt skeleton of Riber Castle, to the beacon on top of Crich Stand and down the Derwent Gorge to Matlock The Cromford and High Peak Railway: The next stage of the journey takes you on to the High Peak Trail, which uses the former trackbed of the Cromford and High Peak Railway. Engineered by Josias Jessop and constructed in the 1830s, the railway was built as an extension of the canal system and, as such, the stations were called wharfs. In the early years horses pulled the wagons on the level stretches, while steam-winding engines worked the inclines. By the mid-1800s steam engines worked the whole line, which connected with the newly extended Midland Railway. The railway was closed by Dr Beeching in 1967. The Canal After abandoning the High Peak Trail pleasant forest paths lead you down into the valley at High Peak Junction, where the old railway met the Cromford Canal. The 33-mile (53.5km) canal was built in 1793, a year after Arkwright’s death, to link up with the Erewash, thus completing a navigable waterway to the River Trent at Trent Lock. Today, there’s an information centre here, a fascinating place to muse before that final sojourn along the tow path to Cromford. While you're there: If you have time, visit Wirksworth, a former lead-mining town on the hillsides above Cromford. Until a restoration project of the 1980s Wirksworth had become a dusty, derelict place that nobody wanted to visit. Take a look at the National Stone Centre on Portway Lane. Here you can have a go at gem panning and join guided walks. The Wirksworth Heritage Centre, which is housed in a former silk and velvet mill at Crown Yard, gives a fascinating insight into the town’s history. Where to eat and drink: Arkwright’s Mill has a café for coffee, cake and light snacks.The excellent Boat Inn free house on Scarthin at Cromford serves bar meals at lunchtimes and evenings and has a beer garden. Arkwright’s Mill has a café for coffee, cake and light snacks.The excellent Boat Inn free house on Scarthin at Cromford serves bar meals at lunchtimes and evenings and has a beer What to look out for: Besides the Arkwright Mill, which is a ‘must see’, take some time to visit the exhibits in old railway workshops at Highpeak Junction and the Leawood Pumping Station, which pumped water from the River Derwent to the Cromford Canal. The restored Leawood works has a working Cornish-type beam engine Directions: Turn left out of the car park on to Mill Road. Cross the A6 to the Market Place. Turn right down Scarthin, passing the Boat Inn and the old millpond before doubling back left along Water Lane to Cromford Hill. 2 Turn right, past the shops and Bell Inn, then turn left up Bedehouse Lane, which turns into a narrow tarmac ginnel and heads upgill past some almshouses (otherwise known as bedehouses). 3 At the top of the lane by a street of 1970s housing, a signpost for Black Rocks points uphill. The footpath continues its climb southwards to meet a lane. Turn left along the winding lane, which soon divides. Take the right fork, a surfaced track leading to a stonebuilt house with woods behind.On reaching the house, turn right through a gate, and then follow the top field edge. 4 After climbing some steps, ascend left through the woods of Dimons Dale up to the Black Rocks car park and picnic site. The track you’ve reached is on the former trackbed of the Cromford and High Peak Railway. Immediately opposite is the there-and-back aymarked detour leading to the rocks. 5 Returning to the car park, turn right along the High Peak Trail, which traverses the hillside high above Cromford. 6 After 0.75 mile (1.2km) take a path on the right off the incline for Intake Lane. At the lane, turn right and follow it to a sharp right-hand bend. Here, go straight on, following a path heading south-east along the top edge of some woodland. (Please note that neither the path nor the wood is shown on the current OS Explorer OL24 White Peak.) 7 On nearing Birchwood Farm, watch out for two paths coming up from the left. Take the second smaller one descending more directly downhill in a sunken channel. At the bottom of the woods the path swings left across a field, coming out to the A6 road by Oak Farm. 8 Cross the road and follow the little ginnel opposite, over the Cromford Canal by the Highpeak Junction information centre. Turn left before the Matlock Railway and along the canal tow path. Follow this back to the car park at Cromford Wharf