UK's has 31 sites inscribed in the UNESCO WHS list and I'm only missing 2 of those 31 sites. A few days ago Julia sent me this card with the Old Silk Mill in Derby.
The Derwent Valley Mills are the birthplace of the factory system. It was for this reason that they were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2001.
It was in the Derwent Valley that – thanks to pioneering work by Richard Arkwright, Jedediah Strutt, the Lombe brothers and others – the essential ingredients of factory production were successfully combined. Water Power was applied and successfully used for the first time on a relatively large scale. Not only was silk throwing and cotton spinning revolutionised with dramatic consequences for the British economy, the Arkwright model system also informed and inspired developments in other countries and industries.
© Millstone Cards
The first stages of the fully mechanised factory were set in motion when the Lombe brothers set up a silk mill in Derby in the early 1720s, based on examples seen in Italy.
The silk throwing machines in this building were based on machines studied by John Lombe in Italy – the designs of these were copied and smuggled to England in an early example of industrial espionage.
The layout of the mills, with a large number of people in two buildings doing a number of processes, was the prototype for the modern factory and was a model for the later textile mills built for Arkwright and partners 50 years later. - in: http://www.derwentvalleymills.org/derby/visit-the-silk-mill/
The Silk Mill is the southern gateway to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
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