Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Derwent Valley Mills is a World Heritage Site in Derbyshire, England, designated in December 2001. 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. The insertion of industrial establishments into a rural landscape meant the construction of housing for the mill workers. The site consists of the communities of Masson, Cromford, Belper, Milford, Darley Abbey and Lombe's Mills, and it includes 867 listed buildings. A further nine structures are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. At the Working Textile Museum at Richard Arkwright's Masson Mill, there are approx. 680,000 bobbins on display. More to come.. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.