Cressbrook is a village in the
Peak District National Park in
Derbyshire. It lies in Water-cum-Jolly Dale at the foot of
Cressbrook Dale. Population details at the 2011 Census are included in the civil parish of
Litton. Before its
Enclosure Act
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
of 1762 Cressbrook did not exist. It later grew up around a
textile mill complex built alongside the
River Wye
The River Wye (; cy, Afon Gwy ) is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, fourth-longest river in the UK, stretching some from its source on Plynlimon in mid Wales to the Severn estuary. For much of its length the river forms part of Wal ...
, first by
Richard Arkwright
Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as t ...
and then later by his son Richard, JL Philips and Brother Cotton Spinners and McConnel and Company.
Until McConnel's period of ownership the village did not exist beyond a collection of buildings in the immediate vicinity of the mill. When McConnel's workforce objected to the quality of the housing available he took it upon himself to build the
model village
A model village is a type of mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. Although the villages are located close to the workplace, they are generally phys ...
that became Cressbrook. Building started in the late 1830s and was later extended by Henry McConnel's daughter, Mary Worthington, in 1902 to include a village club, modelled on a
working men's club. Cressbrook Mill went bankrupt in 1965, after which time it changed from being a private mill estate to the public village that it now is.
The
Monsal Trail
The Monsal Trail is a cycling, horse riding and walking trail in the Derbyshire Peak District. It was constructed from a section of the former Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway, which was built by the Midland Railway in 18 ...
passes Cressbrook Mill. This walk and cycleway mostly follows the old trackbed of the
Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway where, from 1866 to 1959, the village of Cressbrook was served by
Monsal Dale railway station. Until May 2011 the
Cressbrook Tunnel (and others) were closed to walkers and cyclists
for safety reasons and the Trail diverted across the River Wye next to the Mill.
David Cannon McConnel
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
emigrated to
Queensland, Australia in 1840. In 1841, he established the
Cressbrook Homestead
Cressbrook Homestead is a heritage-listed homestead at off Cressbrook-Caboombah Road, Cressbrook, Somerset Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1841 to 1914. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.
His ...
named after their home town. The homestead in turn gives its name to the modern-day
localities of
Cressbrook, Queensland and
Lower Cressbrook, Queensland Further reading
* — also includes Mount Beppo State School, Ivorys Creek Provisional School, Cross Roads Provisional School, Ottaba Provisional School, Murrumba State School, Mount Esk Pocket School, Kipper Provisional School, Lower Cressbroo ...
.
Publications
The history of Cressbrook was recently captured in the book ''Behind The View — Life and times in Cressbrook, a Derbyshire Mill village''. This was written by and published by the Cressbrook Community association with the help of a grant from the Local Heritage Initiative, a
Countryside Agency project.
Bill Bryson writes warmly about Cressbrook Mill in his 2015 travel memoir ''
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island''.
See also
*
Listed buildings in Litton, Derbyshire
Litton is a civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England. The parish contains 27 listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England. Of these, one is listed at Grade II*, the middle of the thr ...
References
External links
Cressbrook Mill, Peak District Information
Towns and villages of the Peak District
Villages in Derbyshire
Derbyshire Dales
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