Preservation
Out of the Arkwright Festival held in 1971, The Arkwright Society was formed. The Cromford Mill complex was bought by The Arkwright Society in 1979, saving the buildings associated with the mill from demolition. The charirty purchased the site for the purpose of conservation and with the intention of beginning restoration. The mills had been contaminated by industrial processes involving pigments and dyes which were stored in the mills after they stopped processing cotton. With the help of local councils, the East Midlands Development Agency, English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and at the cost of £5 million, the mills were restored and decontaminated. Now Cromford Mill is now used by small businesses and used for education.
Many of the mills built in the Derwent Valley for the cotton industry survive and were reused after the decline of the industry. Some have been reused. Most of the worker's housing survives and are still in used as homes. Throughout the 1970s and 1908s, local authorities in partnership with English Heritage attempted to prevent the deterioration of the houses and mills by giving advice to owners and using grants to undertake conservation work. When the application for World Heritage Site status was made in 2000, 26 of the 838 listed buildings in the area were on English Heritage's At Risk Register and were in a state of disrepair.
In 2000, the Derwent Valley Mills were nominated to become a World Heritage Site. Along with Blaenavon Industrial Landscape, New Lanark, and Saltaire (all now World Heritage Sites), the site was proposed to increase the representation of industrial archaeology on the list of World Heritage Sites. The proposal was successful and in 2001 the Derwent Valley Mills were designated a World Heritage Site. Its status as a World Heritage Site is intended to ensure its protection; all such sites are considered to be of "outstanding value to humanity". The site was listed under the second and fourth Heritage Site selection criteria. The Derwent Valley Mills pioneered worker's housing as well as much technology developed by Richard Arkwright, producing an industrial landscape and heralding industrial towns. The Derwent Valley Mills Partnership is responsible, on behalf of the British government, for the management of the site. In June 2009, Bath Street Mill in Derby was damaged by fire. The building was part of the World Heritage Site and dated from the 18th century.
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