Building record MDR10422 - 5-10 Darley Street, Darley Abbey, Derby

Boar's Head Cotton Mill Complex and Associated Housing, Darley Abbey. Thomas Evans began the mill building programme in 1782, and in order to attract an adequate work force to his new enterprise he created a new village, complete with school and other amenities. The Workers Housing: there was no cohesive plan for the housing, they were simply built in random groups at various dates making them very difficult to summarise, and they include listed cottages in Darley Street. (1) Nos. 5-10 Darley Street were built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They are a group of two pairs of two storey and two pairs of three storey brick built cottages with slate roofs. There are some timber sash windows and modillion eaves. The two storeyed Nos. 6A and 7 and Nos. 9A and 10 probably pre-date the Evans family building campaign and were acquired by the family c. 1790. The three storeyed Nos. 8 and 9 appear to have been built between the older pairs by 1811 while the three storeyed Nos. 5 and 6 are later but before 1852. The 18th and 19th century houses and schoolrooms in Darley Abbey built or acquired by various generations of the Evans family for their workers are of interest as a group to be compared with the Arkwright settlement at Cromford and the Strutt settlements at Belper and Milford. (2)