Cressbrook

(2.6 miles)

Cressbrook was once a mill village on the River Wye, though some of the houses in and around the village are lead miners' cottages, testifying to a history predating the mill.

The mill is still the major building in the village though now it has been converted into apartments. The original mill here was constructed by Sir Richard Arkwright in 1785, and still stands as the part of the mill closest to the river, but the magnificent main building was erected in 1815 by Arkwright's agent, William Newton, a local character whom Anna Seward dubbed 'The Minstrel of the Peak'. The mill ceased operations in 1971 and was allowed to decay even though it is a grade II listed building, but has recently been carefully restored. Behind it are the apprentices cottages, older than the main mill building by several years.

Above the mill is Cressbrook Hall, the house of the mill owners, which stands on a bluff overlooking the river. The hall is a fanciful piece of Gothic architecture in a superb situation, with magnificent views down Monsal Dale. Farther up the hill is the rest of the village, for the most part consisting of the cottages once occupied by the millworkers.

The scenery around is magnificent. Along the River Wye, just upstream of Cressbrook Mill, lies Water-cum-Jolly, a magnificent river gorge with fine limestone cliffs which attract many rock-climbers, bird-watchers, walkers and fishermen. North of the mill lies Cressbrook Dale, or Ravensdale, a fine gorge-like limestone dale with numerous crags and the remains of several lead mines. Most of this dale is a National Nature Reserve renowned for its range of rare flowers.