Cressbrook
| Cressbrook | |
| Derbyshire | |
|---|---|
 Cressbrook Mill | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SK168731 |
| Location: | 53°15’18"N, 1°44’56"W |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Buxton |
| Postcode: | SK17 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Derbyshire Dales |
Cressbrook is a village in the Peak District of Derbyshire, standing in Water-cum-Jolly Dale at the foot of Cressbrook Dale.
Before the local Enclosure Act of 1762, Cressbrook did not exist. It later grew up around a textile mill complex built alongside the River Wye, first by Richard Arkwright 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 was no more than 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 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.
David Cannon McConnel emigrated to Queensland, Australia in 1840 and in 1841, he established the Cressbrook Homestead named after his home town, from which has grown an Australian town, named Cressbrook.
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.
About the village
The Monsal Trail, and eight and a half mile walking trail, passes Cressbrook Mill. The trail, for walkers and cyclists, 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.[1] Until May 2011 the Cressbrook Tunnel (and others) were closed to walkers and cyclists[2] for safety reasons and the Trail diverted across the River Wye next to the Mill.
Publications
The history of Cressbrook was recently captured in the book
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Cressbrook) |
References
- ↑ Truman, P., Hunt, D., (1989) Midland Railway Portrait Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing
- ↑ "Monsal Trail – Work to re-open the tunnels". Peak District National Park. http://www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/visiting/trails/monsaltrail/monsaltrail-information. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
- 'Behind The View — Life and times in Cressbrook, a Derbyshire Mill village' (Cressbrook Community Association)
