The Derwent Valley has been described as the 'Cradle of the Factory System'. It represented a seminal development of the Industrial Revolution. It served as the model for planned factory villages in the United Kingdom and abroad.
The City Council is a member of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Partnership. On behalf of the United Kingdom Government, the Partnership prepared the nomination document and management plan that, in June 2000, were submitted to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, in Paris.
In recognition of its international significance, UNESCO inscribed the Derwent Valley Mills on the World Heritage List in December 2001.
The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site extends approximately 15 miles along the river Derwent, from Masson Mill, Matlock Bath, to the Industrial Museum, formerly Lombe's Silk Mill, at Derby. It includes Darley Abbey: the mill complex, the historic village and its church, Darley Abbey Park and the flood plain of the river Derwent.
Also, a wealth of detail is provided in - 'The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities' - published by the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Partnership.
The book is reviewed below:
'It is a reflection of the importance of Derby's role as a manufacturing centre - renowned for its place in the porcelain, railway and aircraft industries - that World Heritage Site status has been accorded to an aspect of its industrial past that has been largely over-looked in recent years.
Previously, cotton was not an industry with which Derby was widely associated. However, that has now changed. Derby's seminal role in the Industrial Revolution, in the development of the cotton industry at home and abroad, has achieved its due recognition.
One of the penalties of this relative neglect is that the Derwent Valley Mills story, especially Derby and Darley Abbey's place in it, has not previously been told authoritatively. Indeed, it was only at the stage of the preparation of the World Heritage bid that the minds of national and local researchers were focused on telling that story. At the same time, the bid process excited widespread public interest, and the need for a commercially available publication became apparent.
'The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities' is a lavishly illustrated book that presents a balanced portrait of the centres of manufacture - from Masson Mill in the north to Derby Industrial Museum in the south - and the settlements that housed their workforce. Many people who live in the former mill workers' cottages will even find their houses featured in the book.
Human interest is provided by way of potted biographies of the pioneer mill owners - Sir Richard Arkwright of Cromford, Jedediah Strutt of Belper and Milford and Thomas Evans of Derby - and their families. Also, through insights into the community life of the largely self-sufficient townships that surrounded and supported what were, when they were founded in the second half of the eighteenth century, the first major centres of factory production in the world.
'The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities' incorporates the results of much, up to now, unpublished recent research, especially into Darley Abbey, and will be of interest to all who are eager to find out more about our very own World Heritage Site.'
At £14.90, copies are available from...
Derby City Council has produced a fully illustrated fold out leaflet entitled 'Darley Abbey & Park to Derby Silk Mill - part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site'.
Copies may be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre, Market Place, Derby and from DRegeneration and Community, Celtic House, Derby.
Latest edition of World Heritage News 
Visitors Guide for the World Heritage Site
Derwent Valley Mills Wolrd Heritage Site website.
For further information please contact the Built Environment Team
Telephone 01332 641632 Minicom 01332 256666 Fax 01332 716377 e-mail built.heritage@derby.gov.uk