Belper

Belper

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Belper
latitude= 53.029
longitude= -1.475
civil_parish= Belper
population = 20,548
shire_district= Amber Valley
shire_county= Derbyshire
region= East Midlands
constituency_westminster= Amber Valley, Mid Derbyshire
post_town= BELPER
postcode_district = DE56
postcode_area= DE
dial_code= 01773
os_grid_reference= SK351476
Belper is a town within the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England.

It is eight miles north of Derby, on the A6, by the River Derwent, and has a population of 20,548 (2001 census); Belper town council claims to be responsible for 10,000 households. It has regular bus services to Derby and to the north, to Ripley and many surrounding villages. Belper railway station is situated on the Midland Main Line, and is mainly served by local trains on the Derwent Valley Line Derby-Matlock service.

As a relatively small town, it has three supermarkets (Morrisons, Somerfield, Co-op), supplemented by a small but busy shopping area mainly centred around King Street, several primary schools and a secondary school.

Origins

At the time of the Norman occupation, Belper was part of the land centred on Duffield held by the family of Henry de Ferrers. The Domesday Survey records a manor of "Bradley" which is thought to have been somewhere in the vicinity of the Coppice. At that time it was probably within the Forest of East Derbyshire which covered the whole of the county east of the Derwent. It was possibly appropriated by William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby at some time after it was disafforested in 1225 and became part of Duffield Frith. [Turbutt, G., (1999) "A History of Derbyshire. Volume 2: Medieval Derbyshire," Cardiff: Merton Priory Press]

The town's name is thought to be a corruption of the name "Beaurepair" (beautiful retreat), the name given to a hunting lodge, the first record being a charter of 1231. This would have been the property of Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster who died in 1296, the record of his estate mentioning "a capital mansion". The chapel built at that time still exists. Originally consecrated in 1250 as the Chapel of St. Thomas, it was rededicated to St. John during the reign of King Henry VIII.

History

it must have become a substantial village. It is recorded that in 1609 fifty-one persons died of the plague. ['Parishes: Doveridge - Duffield', Magna Britannia: volume 5: Derbyshire (1817), pp. 129-142. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50727. Date accessed: 27 August 2008. ]

From at least the 13th century there were forges in the Belper and Duffield areas and it became a major source of income, particularly for nail making. By the end of the eighteenth century there were around 500 'naylor's' workshops in the town. It was hot exhausting work for very little remuneration and by the end of the century they had been superseded by machinery.

Much of their output was used in the expansion of the town from 1776, for Belper was one of the first 'mill towns', as a result of events at nearby Cromford. The industrialist Jedediah Strutt was a partner of Richard Arkwright and built a water-powered cotton mill of his own, the second in the world, at Belper. In 1784 he built the North Mill, and across the road joined by a bridge, the West Mill. In 1803 the North Mill was burnt down to be replaced by an innovative new structure designed to be fireproof. Other extensions followed, culminating in the East Mill in 1913, a present day Belper landmark. To this day the mill derives power from the river, using turbine-driven electrical generators.

Strutt had previously patented his "Derby Rib" for stockings, and the plentiful supply of cotton encouraged the trade of framework knitting which had been carried on in the town and surrounding villages since the middle of the previous century. Mechanisation arrived about 1850, but, in any case, the fashion for stockings for men was disappearing. However elaborately patterned stockings, for ladies especially, were coming into vogue, and the output of the Belper "cheveners" was much in demand.

The coming of the North Midland Railway in 1840 brought further prosperity and, in 1820 Belper was the first place in the UK to get gas lighting, at a works erected by the Strutts at Milford. Demand was such that in 1850, the Belper Gas and Coke Company was formed, with a works in the present Goods Road. Electricity followed in 1922 from the Derby and Nottingham Electrical Power Company's works at Spondon. The first telephones came in 1895 from the National Telephone Company. The end of the century also brought the motor car, CH218, owned by Mr. James Bakewell of The Elms being possibly the first.

Belper remained a textile and hosiery centre well into the Twentieth century. Meanwhile other companies were developing in various ways. Iron founding led to the Park Foundry becoming a leader in the solid fuel central heating market. Adshead and Ratcliffe had developed Arbolite putty for iron-framed windows, while Dalton and Company which had been producing lubricating oils, developed ways of recovering used engine oil which proved especially useful during the Second World War. In 1938, A.B.Williamson had developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings. The introduction of nylons after the war seemed set to make it redundant, however mechanics and fitters had discovered its usefulness in cleaning hands and it is marketed to this day by Deb Proprietaries as Swarfega.

Recent times

Before 1983 the town gave its name to the Belper constituency which from 1945 to 1970 was the seat of George Brown, the often controversial deputy leader of the Labour Party.

After the Second World War, J. W. Thornton, the chocolate maker, moved into the town from Sheffield, which helped to alleviate the employment problems arising from the contraction of the earlier industries. Subsequently, the company moved a few miles away to Swanwick.

Cotton spinning and textile production has virtually ended and all that nowadays remains of Strutt's Mills is the large East Mill and the smaller North Mill, preserved as part of the Derwent Valley Mills heritage sites. In 2001 the valley between Derby's silk mill, through Belper, to Arkwright's Cromford Mills was given World Heritage status.

Among the Strutts' bequests to the town was the Herbert Strutt Grammar School. This became a Primary School in 1973 with the opening of Belper High School, and remained in use as such until the Easter break in 2008 when it was replaced by a new building on the edge of the town. Notable among its students were the actors Alan Bates and Timothy Dalton, while the actress Suzy Kendall was born and grew up in the town.

Belper is twinned with Pawtucket, Rhode Island , the connection being Samuel Slater of Milford who was an apprentice of Jedediah Strutt and absconded to America to found that country's cotton spinning industry.

Belper made international news in 2001 after rejecting a gift of a large fibreglass Mr. Potato Head model from Pawtucket, as residents considered it was "ugly".

At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, Belper-born swimmer Ross Davenport won two gold medals and a silver for England.

Churches

The oldest of the current churches is Belper Central Methodist Church. Replacing a 1782 chapel, the current building opened on June 28 1807 and was originally built to hold 1400 worshippers.

A prominent landmark, St Peter's Anglican Church was built in 1824 to replace the smaller 13th century St John's Chapel which is now used as a town council and heritage chamber. A second Anglican Church, Christ Church, was built in 1850. A local saying calls St Peter's "the low church in the high place" and Christ Church "the high church in the low place" based on their different liturgical traditions.

The town is also home to a Baptist, a spiritualist, a Catholic and a second Methodist church (at Kilburn), as well as Emmanuel Community Church.

Schools

Belper School and Sixth Form Centre (the town's secondary school) has approximately 1400 pupils aged 11-18. It was originally named "Belper High School" when it was built in 1973, and is adjacent to Belper Leisure Centre. Its most famous "old boy" is probably Ross Davenport, winner of two gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Another former pupil of note is the late Alison Hargreaves, holder of a number of 'firsts' in the mountaineering world.

Primary Schools

* Holbrook Primary School
* St Elizabeth's Primary School
* St Johns Primary School
* Herbert Strutt Primary School
* Pottery Primary School
* Long Row Primary School
* Ambergate Primary School

econdary Schools

* Belper School and Sixth Form Centre

Famous residents

*George Brown, Baron George-Brown Labour politician
*Timothy Dalton, actor, the 4th James Bond was raised here [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001096/bio Timothy Dalton biography] accessed June 2007]
*Ross Davenport Swimmer
*Monica Edwards, children's writer was born here in 1912 [ [http://www.monicaedwards.co.uk/ Monica Edwards' Biography] ]
*Suzy Kendall, actress, in British and Italian movies
*Tracy Shaw who played Maxine Peacock (1995-2003) in Coronation Street
*Samuel Slater "father of the American industrial revolution" grew up in Blackbrook and apprenticed at Milford [ [http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9485869 Samuel Slater at Biography.com] accessed June 2007]
*Bombardier Charles Stone who was awarded the VC is buried here [ [http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/derbyshi.htm Derbyshire at VictoriaCross.org] Accessed June 2007] .
*Jedediah Strutt, Inventor - opened his first mill in Belper (1777) [ [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXstrutt.htm Jedediah Strutt Biography] ]
*Frank Swettenham, Colonial ruler of Malaya, author, was born here [ [http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9500253 Frank Swettenham at biography.com] accessed June 2007] in 1850
* Audley Bowdler Williamson, inventor of Swarfega and founder of Deb Ltd., still based in Belper

ee also

*Former Parliament constituency of Belper
*Belper Town F.C.
*Belper Rugby Club

References

* Naylor, P. "(Ed)" (2000) "An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs" Belper: M.G.Morris

External links

* [http://www.belpertowncouncil.co.uk/ Belper Town Council]
* [http://www.belpertoday.co.uk/ Belper Today - newspaper]
* [http://www.derwentvalleymills.org/ Derwent Valley Mills]
* [http://www.belpernorthmill.org/index.asp Site specific to the North Mill]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/work/england/derby/article_1.shtml BBC: Historical account of the Belper nailers]
* [http://www.belperschool.co.uk/ Belper School and Sixth Form Centre]
* [http://www.belper-research.com/ Belper Historical Research Website]
* [http://www.belperhc.co.uk/ Belper Hockey Club]
* [http://www.belperrugbyclub.co.uk/ Belper Rugby Club]
* [http://www.belpertownfc.co.uk/ Belper Town Football Club]
* [http://www.belperdivers.co.uk/ Belper Sub Aqua Club]
* [http://www.belperforum.co.uk/ Belper Forum]


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