Machines for carding and spinning had already been developed but were inefficient and the cotton produced was of insufficient quality to form the warp of the weave.

The staircase and ancillary services were in a central projection leaving production floors uncluttered, This was an important advance in mill architecture.

Adams, in his "Gem of the Peak"' (1840) said that Masson Mill 'is replete with the improved machinery employed in making cotton thread'.

The spacious mill, with its hundred lights reflecting on the river and the thick foliage, mingling the din of wheels with the noise of the waterfall'.

Kelly's (1908) Directory stated that 'the Masson Cotton Mills... give employment to many of the inhabitants' [of Matlock Bath].