The Derwent has made Belper into a busy town, for its water power decided Jedediah Strutt in 1776 to build his cotton mills here. Part of the old mills (rebuilt in 1797) survives among the new buildings and in the shadow of their great walls some of Belper's beauty lies, delightful gardens where the water mirrors the wooded hillside.
Just beyond the mills the river is spanned by a fine stone bridge of 1795, replacing the older one washed away by a flood. Here, in a lovely setting, the river makes a crescent waterfall on its way to the valley beyond the bridge.
In the river here original timbers were discovered from the foundations of the only viaduct constructed by George Stephenson, as good as new after 94 years immersion in the river bed.
Although Belper has had a long association with industry, there are still a handful of sewing cotton and hosiery works - for example the De Bradelei Mill Shop Centre. This shop has the distinction of standing on the site of the old Brettles Mill where stockings worn by Queen Victoria at her Coronation were made, along with with vest worn by Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar.
It was nail making however which was the primary industry for some 800 years, and at its peak in the mid 19th century the output is listed as being two million nailes each week. In 1741 for example, 532 people in the village were engaged in this industry - living in some 113 houses.
It is thought that Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, who had a seat here and called the village Beau Repaire, built the 13th century chapel of St John the Baptist, which has become a sacred place again after being a school. It is a simple nave and chancel with a single roof on five old beams.
At one time Belper was a village in Duffield Frith, one of the many Royal forests, hunting grounds for the kings of medieval England. The Chapel saved the foresters and their families the long walk to their Parish Church in Duffield.
Outside the town to the north, at the top of a lovely hillside graveyard with fine trees, is buried Jedediah Strutt, high above the valley where the river flows which turned his millwheel to fortune.
He was born at South Normanton in 1726, the son of a farmer. Distinguishing himself by a faculty for mechanics, revealed by his making water-wheels and improving his fathers ploughs, he was apprenticed, and then inheriting a farm from a Blackwell uncle, married Elizabeth Woollatt, with whose family he had lodged at Findern, where her brother William was a hosiery manufacturer.
Near the chapel are the Matthew Smith almhouses, dating from 1713. The area where Lander Lane, Nottingham Road, Parkside and High Pavement meet is known as The Butts. These days it is mainly roadway, but was used for archery practice in mediaeval times, when every man was expected to be able to use a bow. In the early 1900's horse sales were held there.
The Market Place is the old centre of the town and still has a market every Saturday. John Wesley preached here on the 5th July 1786. A fair is held here and on the nearby Coppice Car Park at the end of October.
Belper is the headquarters of 'The Romance of the North' a company that specialises in personalised guided tours taking visitors off the beaten track, and by combining easy walking with magnificent views ensures the opportunity to browse around delightful towns and villages in the vicinity.
