The Old Silk Mill and the old Silk Mill

In 2009, the Old Silk Mill pub on Full Street (near the cathedral) re-opened after a year of closure. When it did, it searched out a specialist niche in the market to make the business viable. That niche was real ale and this year, they have been awarded the Derby CAMRA award of the year 2011. (CAMRA being the CAMpaign for Real Ale).

Another unusual feature of this pub is that, although they do not serve food, they are happy for you to bring in your own and will provide the crockery and cutlery you need to eat it. That's a bit of a turnaround from the non-licensed restaurant allowing customers to bring their own alcohol!

 

Although it is called The Old Silk Mill it is relatively modern, having been built in 1928. The reference is actually to the Silk Mill itself, just down the road. The mural on the side of the pub illustrates the famous 1833 Silk Trades Lock Out, a conflict that lasted for around eight months and originated in the desire of the mill owners to prevent workers from joining the new trade unions. In total 1800 workers were locked out of factories along the waterways of Derby. The outcome of the dispute was, at best, a draw as both sides lost out quite considerably.

The Silk Mill (to which I have referred often; follow the label at the bottom of the post) is the beginning of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, some more of which I photographed last week.

These days, the Silk Mill houses the Derby Industrial Museum, which has just been mothballed for two years in an attempt by the City Council to save some money. I did hear rumours that parts of it may be being re-opened by a benefactor, but I cannot confirm this at the moment. I need to investigate further.

 

Erasmus Darwin

The third of the quartet is Erasmus Darwin 1731-1802 and, even more than the previous two, he looks as though his bas relief sculpture could do with a bit of gentle scrubbing!

I love the name Erasmus; it rolls off the tongue very nicely. Though I'm not sure that either of my boys would have appreciated being given it. No - I take that back; I am sure! They would never have allowed me to forget it!

The name which immediately catches the eye, however, is Darwin - especially as this one is also listed as a botanist, and yes, he was related. Erasmus was the grandfather of Charles (of evolution theory fame) and obviously influenced his thinking, as many of Erasmus' poems and writings referred to the interconnectness and development of things in nature.

Organic life beneath the shoreless waves

Was born and nurs'd in ocean's pearly caves;

First forms minute, unseen by spheric glass,

Move on the mud, or pierce the watery mass;

These, as successive generations bloom,

New powers acquire and larger limbs assume;

Whence countless groups of vegetation spring,

And breathing realms of fin and feet and wing.

Erasmus Darwin. The Temple of Nature. 1802.

Erasmus is best known as the physician who turned down an offer by George 3rd to be Physician to the King, though his intellectual scope ranged far wider, also being a well known poet, philosopher, botanist, naturalist and inventor. He wrote widely and formed a number of influential intellectual societies.

Darwin's personal life was also quite colourful, with two marriages and at least two illegitimate children. On marrying his second wife, Elizabeth, he moved to Radbourne Hall, just outside Derby and from there into Full Street (the birthplace of William Hutton - by the Silk Mill).

(It's beginning to feel as though every famous Derbeian is, in some way, connected with the Silk Mill!!)

He died on 18 April 1802, shortly after having moved to Breadsall Priory, on the northern edge of Derby. He is buried in All Saint's Church in the village.

Should you wish, you can find out more about Erasmus Darwin here http://www.erasmusdarwin.org/, the website of the house in Lichfield where he established his first successful medical practice. It is now a museum:

William Hutton

The second member of the quartet is William Hutton who, unlike John Lombe, was actually born in Derby. In fact, the street in which he was born (Full Street) runs right by the Silk Mill and at the age of seven, William Hutton was employed in the Silk Mill on a seven year apprenticeship. It was not a happy experience for him; he later wrote of the long hours, low wages and beatings.

William's mother died in childbirth when he was ten and his father had a fondness for drink, so at age 15, William moved to Nottingham for a second apprenticeship under his uncle; this time as a stocking maker.

It was only after the death of his uncle that William began to explore his true interests. He taught himself bookbinding and, eventually, opened a bookshop in Birmingham, followed by a paper warehouse; which proved a very successful business, allowing him time to research and write the first History of Birmingham in 1782.

Others of his writings grew out of his experiences:

 Narrative of the Riots was as a result of his victimisation for his Quaker beliefs during the religious riots of 1791. Both of his houses were burned down, but he later sued the town for damages and was awarded the princely sum of £5,390.

The History of the Roman Wall was written as a result of his having walked the entire length of Hadrian's Wall in 1801...

...and his autobiography The life of William Hutton was completed just before his death in 1815.

Remembered as a historian, author and poet, William Hutton is commemorated by a blue plaque on Waterstones in central Birmingham; the Exeter Bridge bas relief sculpture pictured above; and a plaster statue in a niche above the shop window of what was once Boots the Chemist in St Peter's Street.

Silk Mill

This photo was taken from Exeter Bridge looking down to the site of the Lombe brothers' Silk Mill, now somewhat overwhelmed by the very new Jury's Inn. When Thomas Lombe died in 1739, the building was sold to Richard Wilson of Leeds and his partners William and Samuel Lloyd, both London merchants. It continued in silk production until around 1908, when it was taken over by F.W. Hampshire and Company, the Chemists. They used the premises to make fly papers and cough medicines - a bit of a come-down from silk!

Then, in 1910, disaster struck! The adjacent flour mill, belonging to Sowter Brothers, caught fire. The blaze spread rapidly and soon, the Silk Mill was alight. The east wall collapsed and fell into the river, while the remainder of the building was gutted. Only the foundations and the shell of the bell tower remained. Following this, the mill was rebuilt at the same height but with three storeys instead of the original five, and that is how it remains today.

The building is no longer in use as a factory, but is now home to the Derby Industrial Museum. http://www.derby.gov.uk/LeisureCulture/MuseumsGalleries/Derby_Industrial_Museum.htm

In front of the Silk Mill is the newly built swing bridge, which I mentioned in one of my earliest posts; http://h-little-sealed-packages.blogspot.com/2010/01/towering-over-derby.html . (The Mill itself is in the photograph from that post.) At the time, I said that I had not met anyone who had crossed the bridge, but I'm delighted to say that I now know three people who have! One of them was Mark, my son, who told me he'd been across with some college friends, "Just because it's there". The other two were myself and an 'out of town' friend who wanted to see the city. We walked across, turned round and walked back because, frankly, unless you happen to live in one of the houses at the far end, there's nowhere else much to go.

Post script plea: The only way I know how to link back to one of my previous blog posts is to insert the whole url, but I know that there is a better way. Please could anybody educate me?

John Lombe

Back in February, I blogged about four famous Derbeians featured in bas relief sculpture on the Exeter Bridge; the ones I had walked past countless times without ever noticing! http://h-little-sealed-packages.blogspot.com/2010/02/concrete-span.html I've finally been back to take a look at what I have been missing.

Interestingly, the temporally more distant two of the four, also feature as plaster statues in niches of the building I photographed yesterday. I'm discovering that it's amazing how much I see when I actually take time to look!

I'll start with the most distant past.

John Lombe was made famous by silk. He was lucky enough to have a half brother, Thomas, who had made a small fortune in the silk trade. When Thomas heard that the small silk mill in Derby was failing, he knew that there was huge potential in the market (silk stockings for the ladies) and sent John to investigate a possible new method of manufacture. In 1718 they patented a single machine which would wind, spin and twist silk using water power; an innovative concept which John had seen being trialed by the Italian silk industry.  A new, larger silk mill was built on the site of the old one (just above Exeter Bridge) and production started apace.

Unfortunately for John, he was unable to enjoy the fruits of his labour, as he died in 1722, the year that the new mill was opened. The circumstances surrounding his death were questionable and it was suspected that he had been poisoned by an Italian assasin. Was this a case of industrial espionage biting back?

And here he is in plaster (so to speak).