River Noe

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Watermill on the River Noe at Brough-on-Noe

The River Noe is a river about twelve miles in length, running through the Peak District of Derbyshire, which ultimately becomes a tributary of the River Derwent.

The river rises at Edale Head on Kinder Scout (53°22’55"N, 1°52’44"W), forming in the union of two streams running off the hill, then courses eastwards through Edale and then south-east through the village of Hope.

The river enters the River Derwent half a mile south of Bamford (53°20’21"N, 1°41’39"W).

Hope Valley

The portion of the river downstream of Hope, along with the valley of the River Noe's main tributary, Peakshole Water, is known as the Hope Valley.[1]

The entire length of the river is closely followed by the 'Hope Valley Line' – the Manchester to Sheffield railway line.

Mills

Like many rivers in Derbyshire, the Noe was used historically to power water mills, originally these were mainly corn mills but during the industrial revolution some were rebuilt for other uses.

One example of this was the cotton mill at Edale; built in the late 18th century it shares a common design with other mills of the period, including multiple floors with large windows and a shallow pitched roof. There was also a corn and saw mill at Hope, driven by an 11-foot water wheel.[2]

At @Brough were once a number of mills powered by the Noe, including a lace-thread doubling mill, a cotton mill and a corn mill. The corn mill is notable in that water powered milling came to an end in 1954, when the flow of the Noe was reduced by the upstream diversion scheme. This was constructed to provide additional inflows for Ladybower Reservoir by the Derwent Valley Water Board.[2]

Location

References

  1. Hope Walk, Derbyshire-peakdistrict.co.uk, accessed 25 November 2008
  2. 2.0 2.1 Archaeology Mills Index - Derbyshire Heritage