Belper

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Belper
Belper (Derbyshire)
Belper

Belper shown within Derbyshire
Population 20,548
OS grid reference SK351476
Parish Belper
District Amber Valley
Shire county Derbyshire
Region East Midlands
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BELPER
Postcode district DE56
Dialling code 01773
Police Derbyshire
Fire Derbyshire
Ambulance East Midlands
European Parliament East Midlands
UK Parliament Amber Valley
List of places: UK • England • Derbyshire

Coordinates: 53°01′44″N 1°28′30″W / 53.029, -1.475

Belper is a town within the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.

It is eight miles north of Derby, on the A6, by the River Derwent, and has a population of 20,548 (2001 census); Belper town council claims to be responsible for 10,000 households. It has regular bus services to Derby and to the north, to Ripley and many surrounding villages. Belper railway station is situated on the Midland Main Line, and is mainly served by local trains on the Derwent Valley Line Derby-Matlock service.

As a relatively small town, it has three supermarkets (Morrisons, Somerfield, Co-op), supplemented by a small but busy shopping area mainly centred around King Street, several primary schools and a secondary school.

Contents

[edit] Origins

At the time of the Norman occupation, Belper was part of the land centred on Duffield held by the family of Henry de Ferrers. The Domesday Survey records a manor of "Bradley" which is thought to have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Coppice. At that time it was probably within the Forest of East Derbyshire which covered the whole of the county east of the Derwent. It was possibly appropriated by William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby at some time after it was disafforested in 1225 and became part of Duffield Frith.[1]

The town's name is thought to be a corruption of the name Beaurepair (beautiful retreat), the name given to a hunting lodge, the first record being a charter of 1231. The chapel built at that time still exists.Originally consecrated in 1250 as the Chapel of St. Thomas, it was rededicated to St. John during the reign of King Henry VIII.

St John's Chapel (originally St. Thomas)
St John's Chapel (originally St. Thomas)

[edit] History

A nailer's workshop in Joseph Street
A nailer's workshop in Joseph Street
Strutt's North Mill built in 1803, to replace the original one destroyed by fire
Strutt's North Mill built in 1803, to replace the original one destroyed by fire
Belpers East mill built 1912.
Belpers East mill built 1912.

The coal deposits of Derbyshire are frequently associated with ironstone within the clay substrate. Initially obtained from surface workings it would later have been mined in shallow bell pits. It is thought that this was important for the de Ferrers family, who were also ironmasters in Normandy. [2]

From at least the 13th century there were forges in the Belper and Duffield areas and it became a major source of income, particularly for nail making. By the end of the eighteenth century there were around 500 'naylor's' workshops in the town. It was hot exhausting work for very little remuneration and by the end of the century they had been superseded by machinery.

Much of their output was used in the expansion of the town from 1776, for Belper was one of the first 'mill towns', as a result of events at nearby Cromford. The industrialist Jedediah Strutt was a partner of Richard Arkwright and built a water-powered cotton mill of his own, the second in the world, at Belper. In 1784 he built the North Mill, and across the road joined by a bridge, the West Mill. In 1803 the North Mill was burnt down to be replaced by an innovative new structure designed to be fireproof. Other extensions followed, culminating in the East Mill in 1913, a present day Belper landmark. To this day the mill derives power from the river, using turbine-driven electrical generators.

Strutt had previously patented his "Derby Rib" for stockings, and the plentiful supply of cotton encouraged the trade of framework knitting which had been carried on in the town and surrounding villages since the middle of the previous century. Mechanisation arrived about 1850, but, in any case, the fashion for stockings for men was disappearing. However elaborately patterned stockings, for ladies especially, were coming into vogue, and the output of the Belper "cheveners" was much in demand.

The coming of the North Midland Railway in 1840 brought further prosperity and, in 1820 Belper was the first place in the UK to get gas lighting, at a works erected by the Strutts at Milford. Demand was such that in 1850, the Belper Gas and Coke Company was formed, with a works in the present Goods Road. Electricity followed in 1922 from the Derby and Nottingham Electrical Power Company's works at Spondon. The first telephones came in 1895 from the National Telephone Company. The end of the century also brought the motor car, CH218, owned by Mr. James Bakewell of The Elms being possibly the first.

Belper remained a textile and hosiery centre well into the Twentieth Century. Meanwhile other companies were developing in various ways. Iron founding led to the Park Foundry, with Gloworm at Milford, becoming pre-eminent in the gas appliance and central heating industries. Adshead and Ratcliffe had developed Arbolite putty for iron-framed windows, while Dalton and Company which had been producing lubricating oils, developed ways of recovering used engine oil which proved especially useful during the Second World War. In 1938, A.B.Williamson had developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings. The introduction of nylons after the war seemed set to make it redundant, however mechanics and fitters had discovered its usefulness in cleaning hands and it is marketed to this day by Deb Proprietaries as Swarfega.

[edit] Recent times

King Street, Belper
King Street, Belper
Bridge Street looking north. The East Mill can be seen in the background
Bridge Street looking north. The East Mill can be seen in the background

Before 1983 the town gave its name to the Belper constituency which from 1945 to 1970 was the seat of George Brown, the often controversial deputy leader of the Labour Party.

After the Second World War, J.W.Thornton, the chocolate maker moved into the town from Sheffield, which helped to alleviate the employment problems arising from the contraction of the earlier industries. Cotton spinning and textile production has virtually ended and all that nowadays remains of Strutt's Mills is the large East Mill and the smaller North Mill., preserved as part of the Derwent Valley Mills heritage sites. In 2001 the valley between Derby's silk mill, through Belper, to Arkwright's Cromford Mills was given World Heritage status.

Among the Strutts' bequests to the town was the Herbert Strutt Grammar School, which is now a Primary School. Notable among its students were the actors Alan Bates and Timothy Dalton, while the actress Suzy Kendall was born and grew up in the town.

Belper is twinned with Pawtucket, Rhode Island , the connection being Samuel Slater of Milford who was an apprentice of Jedediah Strutt and absconded to America to found that country's cotton spinning industry.

Belper made international news in 2001 after rejecting a gift of a large fibreglass Mr. Potato Head model from Pawtucket, as residents considered it was "ugly".

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Belper-born swimmer Ross Davenport won two gold medals and a silver for England.

[edit] Churches

The oldest of the current churches is Belper Central Methodist Church. Replacing a 1782 chapel, the current building opened on June 28 1807 and was originally built to hold 1400 worshippers.

A prominent landmark, St Peter's Anglican Church was built in 1824 to replace the smaller 13th century St John's Chapel which is now used as a town council and heritage chamber. A second Anglican Church, Christ Church, was built in 1850. A local saying calls St Peter's the low church in the high place and Christ Church the high church in the low place based on their different liturgical traditions.

The town is also home to a Baptist, a Catholic and a second Methodist church (at Kilburn), as well as Emmanuel Community Church.

[edit] Schools

Belper School and Sixth Form Centre (the town's secondary school) has approximately 1400 pupils aged 11-18. It was originally named "Belper High School" when it was built in 1973, and is adjacent to Belper Leisure Centre. Its most famous "old boy" is probably Ross Davenport, winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

[edit] Primary Schools

  • Holbrook Primary School
  • St Elizabeth's Primary School
  • St Johns Primary School
  • Herbert Strutt Primary School
  • Pottery Primary School
  • Long Row Primary School
  • Ambergate Primary School

[edit] Secondary Schools

[edit] Famous residents

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Turbutt, G., (1999) A History of Derbyshire. Volume 2: Medieval Derbyshire, Cardiff: Merton Priory Press
  2. ^ [www.le.ac.uk/ar/research/ projects/eastmidsfw/pdfs/26deras.pdf Dave Barrett, Derbyshire County Council, East Midlands Archaeological Research Framework: Resource Assessment of Medieval Derbyshire]
  3. ^ Timothy Dalton biography accessed June 2007
  4. ^ Monica Edwards' Biography
  5. ^ Derbyshire at VictoriaCross.org Accessed June 2007
  6. ^ Samuel Slater at Biography.com accessed June 2007
  7. ^ Jedediah Strutt Biography
  8. ^ Frank Swettenham at biography.com accessed June 2007
  • Naylor, P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris

[edit] External links

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