Via Gellia
Via Gellia is a steep-sided wooded dry valley and the road driven through it, in Derbyshire to serve the mills and mines of the Derwent Valley in the opening stages of the Industrial Revolution.
The road is believed to have been named by Phillip Eyre Gell, or at least after him, in a mock-Latin style: the name means "Gell's Road", and seems to be a nod to Rome's famous Via Appia). Gell was responsible for building the road through the valley, and the Gells claimed Roman descent. At the lower, eastern end of the road is the village of Cromford, near Wirksworth, where stands Cromford Mill, the Georgian cotton mill built by the inventor and entrepreneur Richard Arkwright. At the western end is the hamlet of Grangemill.
The road (now the A5012) appears to have been constructed about 1790 to connect the Gell family's extensive lead-mining interests around Wirksworth with a new smelter at Cromford. However, some sources say that the route was in use as early as 1720 for transporting stone from the Gell's quarries in the Hopton area.
Modern history
In modern times the Via Gellia developed a reputation as being a dangerous road: it had a disproportionately high casualty rate, particularly among motorcyclists, due in part to its relative narrowness and the number of large goods vehicles using it to access the quarries. Added to this, its canopy of overhanging trees gave the road a persistently damp, slippery surface. Remedial measures, including resurfacing, were carried out in 2006.
Miscellany
- The fabric Viyella, a wool and cotton mix, is named after the Via Gellia valley, the location of W. Hollins & Company's textile mill where it was originally produced.
- During the First World War, the name Via Gellia was assigned to a communication trench between Kemmel Village and the British and Canadian front lines facing the German front lines before Wytschaete in Belgium.