Belper North Mill Trust are open for business – with guided tours based from Belper North Mill.
We are pleased to confirm that from April 2023, we commenced guided tours of the Belper Mills site (including the North Mill’s unique basement) and the surrounding area. This will bring the story of the Strutts and the start of the “modern” factory system to life. The “Strutt around the Mills” guided tour is supplemented by our popular Sunday heritage themed guided walks around Belper.
Our new lease (at Archway House, which is adjacent to the previous museum) provides the Trust with a space that volunteers and trustees can use to plan their activities. Volunteers and visitors will have rights of access to the Belper Mills complex and the basement of North Mill. If the lease had not been agreed public access to the Belper Mills complex would have ended.
Also, the Trust is working with the Arkwright Society to ensure that the most important items from our previous museum collection will be on public display at Cromford Mills.
Additionally, in conjunction with the Arkwright Society, an Education offer will continue on an outreach basis and a programme of guided heritage walks is also planned.
More detail on these activities are available on our website.
Strutts North Mill Museum Belper
We remain committed, alongside relevant stakeholders, to find a viable future for the Belper Mills site and continue to work on this with them.
If you are interested in joining us at the start of this new chapter, either as a Trustee or Volunteer we would welcome an opportunity to discuss this with you. This includes a new Treasurer to join the Board and support the Trust in the delivery of its charitable objectives. Further details on this and other vacancies can be found on our website Vacancies – Strutts North Mill Museum Belper.
The Trustees
June 2023
Supplementary information
This is added information to provide interested parties with essential background to the announcement by the Trustees in June 2023.
Who are Belper North Mill Trust?
The Trust is a registered charity and is run by Trustees with the support of an experienced and committed volunteer base.
We aim to celebrate, interpret and educate about the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site (DVMWHS), with a particular reference to Belper.
Until 30th September 2022, the charity operated both a museum and visitor centre at Belper North Mill. We attracted around 4,000 visitors a year in the museum and on our walks and talks. A further 2,000 visit the visitor centre.
The Trustees have made the difficult decision to close the museumand visitor centre on 30 September 2022, following the ending of Amber Valley Borough Council grant funding in March 2022. Belper Town Council also ceased their long standing grant in March 2023.
So what is the long term plan for a heritage offer at the Belper Mills site?
Our long term preference is to have a financially viable quality heritage offer at the Belper Mills site, integral with the overall redevelopment of the site. The recent Derbyshire County Council report “Options for a Visitor Centre at Belper” identified various options for how such a centre could operate. The Trust is in support of development at the Belper Mills site as identified in that report.
Additionally, the current owners in their opening paragraph of the Belper Mills site Planning Statement stated “First Investment Real Estate Management (‘FIREM’) has a Vision to provide new homes, leisure and business uses to the Mills to complement the North Mill Museum and existing business to create a visitor destination that celebrates the importance of Belper Mills as part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Sites”. We share their vision of a visitor destination worthy of representing the World Heritage Site.
The timeline on any redevelopment of the Belper Mills site is uncertain and is linked to the resolution of the current planning application. It is difficult to foresee any material development of the heritage offer within the next five years. However, the Trust has earmarked reserves towards match funding heritage related external funding grants on the site – if that opportunity should arise.
In the meantime, following withdrawal of annual grants from both Amber Valley Borough Council and Belper Town Council towards funding our heritage offer, the interest accrued from investing our reserves are our primary source of income and help to subsidise our annual running costs.
For any viable public heritage based offer to operate from the site will require the collaboration and support of a number of stakeholders (Local Authorities, the Belper Mills owner, Historic England and external funding bodies). The Trust supports this approach. Our Trustees wish to retain an important role in the evolution and implementation of a future new visitor attraction worthy of a World Heritage Site. This will require close working with other organisations including the Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust, Arkwright Society and the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Co-ordinating team.
For further information – our previous Position Statement updates – available on our website Strutts North Mill Museum Belper provide more detail on the changes over the past few years