Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about
Facts to make you proud of being from Derbyshire
We tend to take Derbyshire for granted – but our county has got some incredible things to boast about.
It’s played a massive part in not just the history of Britain but the history of the world. America, in particular, has much to thank us for.
And yet, annoyingly, when we are on our travels around the world, or even around the UK, we often have to explain to people who ask where Derby is – or Derbyshire.
That’s possibly because we’re not boastful folk. Nevertheless, next time you come across someone who has never heard of Derby or Derbyshire, you might like to drop a few of the following salient points into the conservation.
1. A Derby park was the public first in England AND inspired New York City’s Central Park
Derby Arboretum, also known as Arboretum Park and The Arboretum, is famous for being England’s first public park. It’s Grade II*-listed and inspired the design of New York’s Central Park.
The Arboretum opened in 1840, following the donation of the land by philanthropist Joseph Strutt who wanted to reward the working people of Derby for the part they had played in helping him and his family amass their enormous fortune.
Strutt commissioned John Claudius Loudon to design the park. In 1859, the Arboretum was visited by Frederick Law Olmsted while on a research tour of Europe. It is thought he incorporated features of Loudon’s work into his design for Central Park, in New York.
2. Derby is home to the first factory in the world
Derby’s Silk Mill is thought to have been the first factory in the world – and it was the first silk mill in England. Lombe’s Mill, as it was known, was built next to the River Derwent after John Lombe visited Piedmont in 1717 and returned to England with details of the Italian silk-throwing machines and Italian craftsmen.
It was one of the earliest known acts of industrial espionage!
3. Our county was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution
As well as the Silk Mill, in 1759, Belper cotton spinner Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment which revolutionised the manufacture of ribbed hose stockings.
The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770. In 1771, Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world’s first commercially successful water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.
This was followed by Jedediah Strutt’s cotton spinning mills at Belper.
4. Our thinkers led the Midlands Enlightenment
Derby brought together some of the brightest and most talented minds of the 18th-century – great thinkers in art, philosophy and inspiring scientific and technological breakthroughs.
They included artist Joseph Wright, known as Wright of Derby, who was known for his innovative use of light in his paintings, and John Whitehurst, a clockmaker and philosopher.
On top of that, Erasmus Darwin, doctor, scientist, philosopher and grandfather of Charles Darwin, founded the Derby Philosophical Society in 1783.
The Midlands Enlightenment formed a pivotal link between the earlier Scientific Revolution and the later Industrial Revolution as the great thinkers of the day exchanged ideas that enabled the technological preconditions for rapid economic growth to gain ground.
5. We have impressive Roman connections
The first human settlement of Derby was by the Romans who built a fort on high ground around Belper Road, overlooking the River Derwent, one of a line of forts seeking to protect the first boundary of their newly-conquered province.
Soon realising the importance of the area, around AD80, they moved across the Derwent and built a new fort on the east side, calling it Derventio. Gradually a civil settlement grew up around the camp and, in the 1970s, an industrial suburb of Derventio was discovered on Derby Racecourse, consisting of a 25ft wide road lined with timber buildings, two pottery kilns and a cemetery.
And as always have a chilled day from the Viking
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