Famed for it’s innovative ‘fire-proof’ iron framed cotton mill, the Belper Mill complex also incorporated innovative developments in waterpower. William Strutt’s improvement of the waterwheel, waterpower control and management of the River Derwent, enabled the mass manufacturing of textiles at the Belper Mills complex, which today sits at the heart of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Recent research into the Belper mills, has uncovered the stewardship of the rivers by the Georgian proprietors of the mills along England’s waterways, including the management of floods and distribution of salmon.

The use of water to generate hydroelectric power, c.1900, encouraged the new owners of the Belper Mills, the English Sewing Cotton Company, to invest in their Derwent Valley businesses and, whilst most industrial sites on the Derwent connected to the national grid to purchase electricity in the mid-20th century, the Belper site continued to invest in new turbines. The 18th century weir, mill leats and wheel pits are still in use today (harnessing the power of the river, almost continuously, for 250 years), supplying the national grid with renewable energy.