The other advantage to the bus was that we had the choice of going into either Derby or Nottiingham whereas the train could only get us to Derby comfortably. Bruce had us come and go from Nottingham. You have to be a little careful to get the "Express bus" because it only takes a little over three whereas a "local bus" can take up to five hours.
We got to Nottingham a little early and realized that we had no idea where to meet up with B&P. We walked around looking for an obvious "passenger loading zone" - bus depots don't seem to have passenger loading zones. Eventually found Bruce trying to figure out where we might be. It all worked out.
The weather in the Midlands was crappy - rain. So we settled in for a quiet evening. I had just settled in for a little nap, when Bruce rushed in to say that he had checked the Doppler weather and there was an hour and a half clear spot before it got dark. We both dropped everything while the girls looked on in dismay and asked - "what about dinner?" Eating can be done just as well in the dark and rain, so we boys went for a quick 9 holes.
We just barely lost! We got to the ninth hole when the sky opened up and poured. We did finish in the rain and got a little wet. But the scores weren't all that great, so there was no big celebration planned for the last hole anyway. And, the girls had waited dinner for us and the evening was otherwise uneventful.
Monday morning we headed for the Derwent Valley, "The Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution." The Derwent Valley is a fairly steep, narrow valley directly north of Derby, ideally suited for building a mill run by a waterwheel but somewhat disadvantageous for transport and building sites.
Weaving was a fairly lucrative home industry in this part of England in the middle of the 1700's. To supply the weavers there was a fair amount of home industry preparing fibers and spinning them into thread (women who spun thread were called "spinsters"). Cotton from the Americas was becoming available in commercially usable amounts. Cotton is "tricky" to spin (must have lots of twist) and so the handspun wasn't of the best quality. Cotton used for warps had to be mixed with other fiber for adequate strength.
Richard Arkwright was a man of humble beginnings, a barber and wig maker. Arkwright invented and patented several devices that lead to the development of the first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill, Cromford Mills. His startup money came from the dowry brought by his wife. The bad news was his factory put a lot of spinsters out of work; the good news was that his factory changed the fabric industry almost over night. Richard Arkwright became in his lifetime the richest man in England. His son inherited the mills and became the richest non-titled man in the whole of Europe. Richard was knighted and became Sir Richard Awkwright.
Because of the newness of the factory system developed by Awkwright, Awkwright faced many social problems. The gate protected against those who had been displaced and sought revenge against the machines that replaced them. But, the gate had a more important function.
In pre-industrial England, time had very little meaning. To force people to be to work on time, the gate was shut at precisely the start time. Anyone locked out lost that day's pay and was fined a day's wages. Together a couple of minutes late would cost the employee two day's wages. Because the factory employed all the people available locally, outsiders had to be brought in and posters with help wanted ads were published all around England. Arkwright had to develop housing for his people, medical facilities and a school for the kids. Kids started at the factory as young as six, but Arkwright provided school (at his expense) for up to six hours per week (the first public education in England).
The docent was passionate about his subject and did a great job explaining the history of the factory to us. We have made some very important rules about "docents". "Don't make eye contact or show any interest" or they will carry on about their favorite subject for as long as you're willing to listen.
A fairly short way down the road was another Arkwright factory, the Masson Mills. This mill was started ten years after Cromford and represented the next generation and also used the River Derwent as its power source.
The Masson Mills were somewhat of a disappointment. The stuff they had was fabulous, but it was very poorly organized and included things that related to the function of the mill and items that had been collected from other places and brought from other places and displayed (stored) here because it was related. Even the machinery from the factory had been moved from other parts of the factory and not completely reassembled. I later realized that I missed photographing the most important element of the factory at Masson Mills - the cotton spinning machines.
The spinning machines were massive and had lots of really cool moving parts. To make good cotton thread, the fiber has to be twisted a lot. The spinning machines would run a fiber for 15-20 feet and then wind it onto a bobbin. To do this half of these fairly massive machines would move, on tracks, 15-20 feet - back and forth. The men tending these machines - working in the chaos of these lumbering machines were given steel-toed shoes.
The Masson Mills site had a lot of equipment that wasn't related to the business of the factory when it was operating but did relate to the fiber industry. The museum at the beginning had a large number of reeds and shafts hanging from its ceiling. In the factory, they had a number of powered looms - set up and operating and other support equipment. I don't know if the looms belonged or were just for display.
Of particular interest to our weaver friends was a tremendously large warping wheel that just wouldn't fit in the average home. The fiber feed rack would be the perfect solution to many of the tangling problems, but loading all the bobbins could be a problem.
Heading back to home base, I was glad that Bruce was doing the driving - 'cause I was ready for a quick nap and a quiet evening.