Darley Abbey - Heritage Walk No. 2 - The Mill Village &
Darley Park
w/e 15 December 2013
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
This second walk at Darley Abbey is over some of
the same ground we covered in the spring of 2008 when we walked
from the Rugby Club through Darley Park (link) but this time we are starting from
the side of the river.
  In fact we
begin this walk in the same place that we began Walk No. 1 to
the Boar's Head Cotton Mills and that is by the interpretation
board A in the Riverside Gardens (left). Turning in the opposite
direction to the Mills we walked through the gardens and exited
onto Darley Street (right) opposite The Square. The cottages
on the right of Darley Street were built as workers' abodes.
Three sides of The Square which is also known as Flat Square,
are occupied by three storey terraced cottages again built for
mill workers and these dating from 1792.
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Continuing along Darley Street we passed an old building
on the left hand side which is even older than the mills but
which was associated with industry before the arrival of the
mills in the village.
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A little further down the street on the opposite side stands
the only surviving building of the Augustinian Abbey after which
the village is named. The mediaeval structure is now a public
house appropriately named The Abbey.
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The Derwent valley side rises from the river and on the hillside
behind The Abbey is Hill Square. This group of two storey mill
cottages is similarly U-shaped to The Square and also explains
the alternative local name for the latter.
  Across Darley Street from The Abbey
a road leads to Dean's Field and on the corner is a building
that once was the Church Room but is now occupied by the Royal
British Legion (left). A plaque on the wall facing Darley Street
indicates that anti-social behaviour is not just a modern occurrence
and leaves one wondering exactly what "severely dealt with"
means!
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Dean's Field is an open green space overlooking the river to
the Boar's Head Mill complex and is also the location today of
interpretation board C but was previously the site of several
water powered mills.
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The interpretation board gives a lot more information about "The
Changing Scene" and hopefully the text on the above image
is large enough to be read. I have inset the map the text refers
to from another part of the same board from which it is clear
that the large pink building in the centre is the location of
Dean's Field.
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We now enter Darley Park which stretches by the River Derwent
a goodly distance towards the Chester Green part of Derby and
is a pleasant walk in its own right but following this second
Darley Abbey walk we took the path to the right up the hillside.
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The park was once associated with Darley Hall, the home of the
Evans family since 1835 who were responsible for much of the
mill development. The path leads through gardens which contain
many specimen trees and shrubs. There is a similar picture to
this in that 2008 walk we took through the park but back then
the ground was also covered with spring flowers.
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The path soon leads to a road through the park near the Terrace
Cafe which is in the only remaining part of Darley Hall that
is still standing. The cafe is situated in what was the Billiard
Room of the Hall which was demolished in 1962 but the outline
of the Hall can still be traced around the Terrace.
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  Work is being carried out and a short diversion
through an archway behind the cafe into the Stable Yard was not
possible due to a temporary fence (left) so we continued along
the road to a signpost pointing up a flight of steps to the National
Plant Collection. This is the National Hydrangea and Viburnum
Collection but December is not the best month to be visiting
as the gardens had been almost cleared.
The road continues to pass through the entrance gates (above
right) to the park where we find interpretation board B but as
the remaining three walks in this series all start from there,
we'll begin Walk No. 3 at the park gates and take a look at the
board.
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