On Thursday 31st August 2023 Mel and I drove a short way to the Lumsdale Waterfalls. The drive up Lumsdale is a narrow road and we eventually park up near the waterfalls.
We pass buildings that are the remains of the Lower Bleach Works, built in the early 1700s as a cotton mill. A number of the bleaching vats and the smithy still survive, as does a circular trough used to cool down the large iron rims of cart wheels. The bleaching vats are believed to be the last surviving examples in the country.
We climb down a a steep bank to get a better view of the falls.
We climb some stairs, where see more mill ruins, beautifully overgrown with ivy. These are part of the Upper Bleach Works, built in the early 1700s, used for bleaching cotton cloth.
Situated beside the impressive waterfall is the Grinding Mill. Built in around 1770, it was most probably a corn mill but there is evidence that it was also used in the grinding of red lead. You can still see the huge wheel pit for the Grinding Mill, and the cast iron pipe that would have fed water on to the immense wheel.
The next obvious mill we find is the Paint Mill. The oldest in the Valley, it was built in the early 1600s as a very early lead smelting mill and bleaching mill. Behind the Paint Mill a large, circular stone trough can still be seen, once used for bleaching yarn.
Designated a scheduled ancient monument because of its historic importance, the Lumsdale Valley was once a bustling centre of industry, with a collection of mills all powered by water from Bentley Brook. The brook rises on Matlock Moor and has never been known to dry up.
The Lumsdale Valley was used for industrial purposes from as far back as the 17th Century, although it reached the height of its production in the mid 19th Century. Some mills were used for cotton spinning and bleaching, and some for grinding corn, bone and minerals. The site was used until the 1930s. The Lumsdale Valley is now one of the best examples of a water-powered industrial archaeological site in Britain, unique in such an extensive use of water power over such a small area.
We walk back down and back to the car. There is Bentley Brook Brewing Co just up the road, sadly only open on Friday, Saturday or Sundays.
we drive back up Lumsdale. At the top is awkward to get out, I am holding the car on a very steep incline trying to see up the road on a blind spot to pull out!
