Welcome to Belper Online. Belper's only dedicated independent resident and tourist information website.
Belper - twinned with Pawtucket, Rhode Island , and name derived from "Bel-Pere" meaning beautiful stone because of the famous quantity and quality of the stone quarried in this location.
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.
The coal deposits of Derbyshire are frequently associated with ironstone within the clay substrate. It is thought that this was important for the de Ferrers family, who were also ironmasters in Normandy.
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.
In 1776 expansion of the town took place, for Belper was one of the first 'mill towns'. 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 a new structure designed to be fireproof.
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. East Mill built in 1913, a present day Belper landmark and to this day the
mill derives power from the river, using turbine-driven electrical generators.
By the end of the eighteenth century there were around 500 nailer's workshops in the town. Nailmaking continued during the Industrial Revolution, but was eventually superceded by the cotton mills.
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.
Modern Belper has something for everyone, and everything for someone, from its many historical roots, to its newly refurbishment of the Ritz Cinema,retail areas and monthly Farmers' Market.
