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32-493: The society bought the site of Sir Richard Arkwright's Cromford Mill in 1979 and have since restored its Grade 1 listed buildings. As of October 2007, the work had cost four million pounds and 35 people were employed by the society at the site. Thieves stole a historic clock from the site in 2003. Derwent Valley Mills, including Cromford Mills, is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites . The mill complex

64-589: A dollar (0.0664 dollars). The confusion to the monetary situation would not be resolved until 1737 in various stages, namely: Subsequent changes until the end of the 18th century were minor and involved reducing the fineness of the silver dollar to 130 ⁄ 144 = 0.9028 fine and the gold escudo (now worth 2 dollars or 40 reales de vellón) from 0.917 to 0.875 fine. Starting 1810 silver coin denominations were revised to their more common-sense values in reales de vellón: 20, 10, 4, 2 and 1 real with 1 real = 1 ⁄ 20 dollar. The loss of American possessions in

96-426: A dollar and called peso maria ) were minted in 1686 and were poorly received by the public. The same 1686 recoinage came with edicts in 1686–1687 fixing the real de vellón at one dollar = 15 + 2 ⁄ 34 reales or 512 maravedíes (or 1 dollar = 8 reales nacionales worth 64 maravedíes). The ineffectiveness of these edicts meant that existing reales de vellón were worth even less than 15 + 2 ⁄ 34 of

128-511: A fineness of 134 ⁄ 144 (0.9306), and valued of 3 maravedíes . It circulated beside various other silver coins until a 1497 ordinance eliminated all other coins and retained the real (now minted 67 to a mark of silver, 0.9306 fine, fine silver of 3.195 grams) subdivided into 34 maravedíes. The silver real was minted in 1 ⁄ 2 -, 1-, 2-, 4- and 8-real denominations. After the discovery of silver in Mexico , Peru and Bolivia in

160-536: A new sough, Meerbrook Sough , had been started nearby, some 30m lower than Cromford Sough. By 1813 the new sough was affecting the water volumes in Cromford Sough, leading Arkwright's son (also Richard Arkwright) and the other users to negotiate with the Meerbrook proprietors to place stop boards so as to keep Cromford water levels up. Further legal cases followed, but by 1836 the stop boards had decayed and

192-612: Is classified as a Grade I listed building . It is now the centrepiece of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site , and is a multi-use visitor centre with shops, galleries, restaurants and cafes. Following the invention of the flying shuttle for weaving cotton in 1733, the demand for spun cotton increased enormously in England. Machines for carding and spinning had already been developed but were inefficient. Spun cotton

224-714: The Arkwright Society , was declared by Historic England as "one of the country’s 100 irreplaceable sites". In 2018, the "Cromford Mills Creative Cluster and World Heritage Site Gateway Project" was listed as a finalist for the "Best Major Regeneration of a Historic Building or Place" in the Historic England Angel Awards. In 2019, the Arkwright Society employed 100 people; by that time, the restoration expenditure had reached £48 million. The mill and other buildings are open to

256-659: The Holy Roman Empire and Habsburg monarchy ), peso , duro or the famous piece of eight . Spanish dollars minted between 1732 and 1773 are also often referred to as columnarios . The portrait variety from 1772 and later are typically referred to as Spanish dollars or pillar dollars. Coins were minted in Spain in copper 1, 2, 4 and 8 maravedíes, in silver coins equivalent to 1, 2, 4, 10 and 20 reales de vellón since 1737, and in gold coins equivalent to 1 ⁄ 2 , 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos. New coins introduced after

288-548: The real nacional worth 1 ⁄ 8 of a dollar. The monetary confusion would not be resolved until the real de vellón was fixed at 20 reales to the dollar in 1737. The first ordinance officially devaluing the Spanish non-colonial real came out in 1642, with the real provincial debased from 67 to 83 + 3 ⁄ 4 to a mark of silver (hence, 10 reales to the dollar). Actual coins worth 1 ⁄ 2 , 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales provincial (the latter worth 4 ⁄ 5 of

320-466: The sough drained into the brook back in the village, and both powered the original mill. The sough was separated and brought along a channel on the south side of Mill Road to the aqueduct . Both then supplied the second mill. In 1785 the mill was extended to its present length with a culvert beneath for the Bonsall Brook. The sough was separated from the brook and brought from the village along

352-579: The 16th century, the 8-real coin (referred to since then as a dollar , peso or piece of eight ) became an internationally recognized trade coin in Europe, Asia and North America and were known variously as pesos , duros , diuros fuertes , tlzalers , dollars , and piastres . These reales were supplemented by the gold escudo , minted 68 to a mark of 11 ⁄ 12 fine gold (3.101 g fine gold), and valued at 15–16 silver reales or approximately two dollars. This real, worth 1 ⁄ 8 dollar,

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384-517: The 19th century and the buildings were used for other purposes, finally a dyeing plant. In 1979, the Grade I listed site was bought by the Arkwright Society , who began the long task of restoring it to its original state. The importance of this site is not that it was the first but that it was the first successful cotton spinning factory. It showed unequivocally the way ahead and was widely emulated. The Cromford mill complex, owned and being restored by

416-525: The Cromford Sough which drained water from nearby Wirksworth lead mines, together with Bonsall Brook. Here he built a five-storey mill, with the backing of Jedediah Strutt (whom he met in a Nottingham bank via Ichabod Wright ), Samuel Need and John Smalley. Starting from 1772, he ran the mills day and night with two twelve-hour shifts. He started with 200 workers, more than the locality could provide, so he built housing for them nearby, one of

448-546: The country’s 100 irreplaceable sites". The complex is open daily to visitors. There is also a Nottingham Arkwright Society based in the Nottingham Industrial Museum in the grounds of Wollaton Park . Cromford Mill Cromford Mill is the world's first water-powered cotton spinning mill , developed by Richard Arkwright in 1771 in Cromford , Derbyshire , England. The mill structure

480-557: The fame of his factory rapidly spread. He was soon building further mills on this site and others and eventually employed 1,000 workers at Cromford. Many other mills were built under licence, including mills in Lancashire, Scotland and Germany. Samuel Slater , an apprentice of Jedediah Strutt, took the secrets of Arkwright's machines to Pawtucket, Rhode Island , USA, where he founded a cotton industry. Arkwright's success led to his patents being challenged in court and his second patent

512-470: The first manufacturers to do so. Most of the employees were women and children, the youngest being only seven years old. Later, the minimum age was raised to ten and the children were given six hours of education a week, so that they could do the record-keeping that their illiterate parents could not. A large part of the village was built to house the mill workers. Stuart Fisher states that these are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in

544-543: The first third of the 19th century cut off the inflow of precious metals into Spain and resulted in the gradual use of French coinage in local circulation. These subsequent changes to the Spanish currency system were never carried out in full: The real was only retired completely with the introduction in 1868 of the Spanish peseta , at par with the French franc , and at the rate of 1 dollar = 20 reales = 5 pesetas. Consequently,

576-471: The negotiated leases had expired, so Cromford Sough was again reduced in flow. Finally Arkwright sued for his water in a landmark legal suit, but the case was lost, and soon after 1847 the Cromford Mills were obliged to cease cotton manufacturing, being turned over to other uses. The mill manager had a house on site. Although the first workers were brought in from outside the area, workers' housing

608-450: The public every day, and has attracted visitors from all over the world. Facilities include a visitors' centre, shops and a café. The nearby Cromford Canal towpath to High Peak Junction , and onwards towards Ambergate, is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). In 2024 the site has been used as a venue for BBC One's Antiques Roadshow . The 1771 building had been reduced by two storeys in 1929. Access

640-512: The region. It also owns Slinter Wood , a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation, Slinter Cottage and Dunsley Meadows Local Nature Reserve. In 2018, the society was planning to restore Building 17 "to transform it into a northern anchor site for the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site and ensure the visitor centre was sustainable". In 2019, the society employed 100 persons;

672-439: The restoration expenditure by that time was £48 million. In 2018, the "Cromford Mills Creative Cluster and World Heritage Site Gateway Project" was listed as a finalist for the "Best Major Regeneration of a Historic Building or Place" in the Historic England Angel Awards. Derwent Valley Mills , including Cromford Mills, is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites . The mill complex was also declared by Historic England as "one of

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704-405: The south side of Mill Lane which it crossed by way of the aqueduct to a new overshot wheel . A complicated set of channels and sluices controlled the supply to the mill, or, on Sundays to the canal, with the surplus draining into the river. Arkwright's use of the Bonsall Brook and Cromford Sough for his mills had been opposed by other local water users in a number of legal cases. In 1772, however,

736-513: The term real lived on, meaning a quarter of a peseta (25 céntimos de peseta). Coins were minted in both Spain and Latin America from the 16th to 19th centuries in silver 1 ⁄ 2 , 1, 2, 4 and 8 reales nacionales and in gold 1 ⁄ 2 , 1, 2, 4 and 8 escudos . The silver 8-real coin was known as the Spanish dollar (as the coin was minted to the specifications of the thaler of

768-426: The world". Employees were provided with shops, pubs, chapels and a school. The gate to Cromford Mill was shut at precisely 6 am and 6 pm every day, and any worker who failed to get through it not only lost a day's pay but also was fined another day's pay. In 1801 and 1802, during a national shortage of silver, Spanish real coins were overstamped for use as coinage at Cromford. The cotton mill ceased operation in

800-680: Was also declared by Historic England as "one of the country’s 100 irreplaceable sites". The Society also manages the Canal Warehouse at Cromford Wharf , having leased it since 1995, where 2 rooms are used as classrooms. The Society offers tours of the Wharf and the Cromford Canal . The Society opened the Cromford Venture Centre in 1996 to provide accommodation for young people studying the industrial history of

832-504: Was also produced by means of the spinning jenny but was insufficiently strong to form the warp of a fabric, for which it was the practice to use linen thread, producing a type of cloth known as fustian . In 1769, Richard Arkwright patented a water frame to use the extra power of a water mill after he had set up a horse-powered mill in Nottingham . He chose the site at Cromford because it had year-round supply of warm water from

864-422: Was forbidden due to the toxic residue from the 20th-century paintmaking usage; the later tank with its toxic sediment obscured the foundations of the 1775 mill and the breast-shot waterwheel chamber. Only one remaining mill building was usable and suitable for guided tours. Installation of a water wheel , accompanied by a modern 20 kW hydro-turbine to power the buildings, was approved in 2022. Originally

896-484: Was later built in Cromford. The opening of the Cromford Canal and the associated Cromford Wharf in 1793 linked Arkwright's Mill to the major Midland and northern cities, although use of the canal was to decline as traffic moved onto the railways. Initially the first stage of the process was hand carding, but in 1775 he took out a second patent for a water-powered carding machine and this led to increased output and

928-580: Was overturned as having no originality. Nonetheless, by the time of his death in 1792 he was the wealthiest untitled person in Britain. Cromford Mill has commissioned a replica water frame which was installed in April 2013. Considerable problems occurred in obtaining suitable roving, which had to be a low-twist 0.8 count cotton: there are no companies spinning cotton today in the United Kingdom. Roving

960-476: Was replaced by the peseta in 1868. The most common denomination for the currency was the silver eight- real Spanish dollar ( Real de a 8 ) or peso which was used throughout Europe, America and Asia during the height of the Spanish Empire . The first real was introduced by King Pedro I of Castile in the mid 14th century, with 66 minted from a Castilian mark of silver (230.0465 grams) in

992-609: Was retained in Latin America until the 19th century but was altered considerably in peninsular Spain beginning in the 17th century. This Spanish colonial real was subsequently referred to as moneda nacional ("national money") and underwent two more changes: The various financial crises under King Philip II gave rise starting in 1600 to the real de vellón (made of billon , or less than half silver). The relative autonomy of Spain's constituent kingdoms resulted in reales of varying silver content and worth considerably less than

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1024-564: Was supplied eventually by Rieter in Switzerland, who had some experimental stock. Rieter are the world's largest manufacturer of textile manufacturing machines. Spanish real The real (English: /ɹeɪˈɑl/ Spanish: /reˈal/) (meaning: "royal", plural: reales ) was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century. It underwent several changes in value relative to other units throughout its lifetime until it

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