The modern factory, or 'mill', system was born here in the 18th century to accommodate the new technology for spinning cotton developed by Richard Arkwright.

His patent of a water frame allowed cotton to be spun continuously, meaning it could be produced by unskilled workers.

Mills and workers' settlements were established at Belper, Darley Abbey, and Milford by Arkwright's competitors.

The Derwent Valley Trust is now involved in the creation of a cycle-way running the entire length of the World Heritage site to promote sustainable tourism and travel.

[1] The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site covers an area of 12.3 km2 (4.7 sq mi)[2] and spans a 24 km (15 mi) stretch of the Derwent Valley, in Derbyshire, from Matlock Bath in the north to Derby city centre in the south.

In an attempt to increase production through the use of water power, Thomas Cotchett commissioned engineer George Sorocold to build a mill near the centre of Derby on an island in the River Derwent.

Although the experiment was unsuccessful, it convinced John Lombe – an employee of Cotchett – that if water power could be perfected there was a market for its produce.

Between 1777 and 1783, Arkwright and his family built mills at Bakewell, Cressbrook, Rocester, and Wirksworth, spread across Derbyshire and Staffordshire.

[11] Arkwright was paid royalties by those who had copied his machines, although some people risked prosecution by engaging in piracy.

The family's attempts to make Cromford self-sustaining through establishing a market was successful, and the village expanded until about 1840.

They continued building mills into the 1810s, and by 1833 their business employed 2,000 people and had dominated the cotton industry in the Derwent Valley.

Belper was already an established village with its own market before Jedediah Strutt began building mills, so he was not required to have as active a role in developing the community into a self-sustaining entity as Richard Arkwright did at Cromford.

[18] Darley Abbey also expanded as a worker's settlement although it had no market place, so providing food for the inhabitants was problematic.

[19] Despite being a major power of the cotton industry in the first quarter of the 19th century, the Strutts' company began to lose out to competition from Lancashire mill towns.

[15] The mills run by the Strutt family also suffered from a lack of modernisation; although they were at the forefront of fireproofing technology at the start of the 19th century, as the machines the mills used got bigger and more powerful, the Strutts persevered with child labour where adults would have been more adept at using the machinery.

It flowed from the River Trent in Sawley to Langley Mill, 14 mi (23 km) south of Cromford.

[22] Three-quarters of the cargo transported on the canal was coal and coke, while the rest consisted of gritstone, iron ore, and lead.

In January 1845, the Cromford Canal Company decided to have a permanent pump built to provide enough water during dry conditions.

The proposal – backed by William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, Richard Arkwright junior, and several Manchester bankers – was ambitious; it was expected that steam locomotives would be used on the line, even though the technology was in its infancy and George Stephenson did not build his revolutionary Rocket until 1829.

[9] Richard Arkwright's Cromford Mill and the associated workers' settlement provided a template for industrial communities, not just in the valley but internationally.

Entrepreneurs such as Peter Nightingale, Jedediah Strutt and Thomas Evans founded the settlements of Belper, Milford, and Darley Abbey within the Derwent Valley for their employees.

As well as the economic standpoint of ensuring a supply of labour, the industrialists were also concerned for their employees and families and acted out of a sense of paternalism.

[33] Arkwright's innovations were not confined to developing workers' settlements; he also had patents on many technologies used for water-powered spinning.

New Lanark was acquired by Robert Owen in 1799 who developed paternalism further than had been done in the Derwent Valley, experimenting with education for young and old and social control.

[36] Saltaire – another World Heritage Site[37] – was founded in 1853 and featured worker's housing and facilities, as well as other elements of the factory system developed by Arkwright.

[38] In 1774, the British government passed an act outlawing the export of "tools or utensils" used in the cotton and linen industries.

[41] Many of the technologies developed in the Derwent Valley Mills endured and were adopted for other textile industries; until the mid-20th century, carding was still performed with machinery invented by Richard Arkwright.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, local authorities in partnership with English Heritage attempted to prevent the deterioration of the houses and mills by giving advice to owners and using grants to undertake conservation work.

[21] The Derwent Valley Mills Partnership is responsible, on behalf of the British government, for the management of the site.

[50] In 2019, the Arkwright Society employed 100 persons at the Cromford Mills site;[51] the restoration expenditure by that time was £48 million.