Editing Belper (section)

==History==
[[File:belper chapel.jpg|thumb|St. John's Chapel (formerly St Thomas's)]]
[[File:belper workshop.jpg|thumb|Nailer's workshop in Joseph Street]]
[[File:belper mill.jpg|thumb|Strutt's North Mill built in 1803, to replace the original one destroyed by fire]]
[[File:Derwent Valley Mills East Mill Belper.JPG|thumb|Belper's East mill, built 1912]]
At the time of the [[Normans|Norman]] occupation, Belper was part of the land centred on [[Duffield, Derbyshire|Duffield]] held by the family of [[Henry de Ferrers]]. The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 records a manor of "Bradley" which is thought to have stood in an area of town now known as the Coppice. At that time it was probably within the [[Forest of East Derbyshire]] which covered the whole of the county east of the [[River Derwent, Derbyshire|Derwent]]. It was possibly appropriated by [[William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby]] at some time after it was disafforested  in 1225 and became part of [[Duffield Frith]].<ref>Turbutt, G., (1999) ''A History of Derbyshire. Volume 2: Medieval Derbyshire,'' Cardiff: Merton Priory Press</ref>

The town's name is thought to be a corruption of ''Beaurepaire'' – meaning beautiful retreat – the name given to a hunting lodge, the first record of which being in a charter of 1231. This would have been the property of [[Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster]] who died in 1296, the record of his estate mentioning "a capital mansion". The chapel built at that time still exists. Originally consecrated in 1250 as the Chapel of St Thomas, it was rededicated to St John during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]]. St John's Chapel is still in use today and is thought to be the oldest building still standing in Belper though it is now used for council meetings rather than church services.

The coal deposits of Derbyshire are frequently associated with [[ironstone]] within the clay substrate. Initially obtained from surface workings, it would later have been mined in shallow bell pits. It is thought that this was important for the de Ferrers family, who were ironmasters in Normandy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.le.ac.uk/ar/research/|title=Archaeology and Ancient History – University of Leicester|last=jeam2|website=le.ac.uk}}</ref> By the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] Belper had grown to a substantial size. It is recorded that in 1609 fifty-one people died of [[plague (disease)|plague]].<ref>'Parishes: Doveridge – Duffield', Magna Britannia: volume 5: Derbyshire (1817), pp. 129–142. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50727. Date Retrieved 27 August 2008.</ref> However, in a Parliamentary Commissioners' report of 1650 regarding Duffield and its chapelries, Belper is described as "a hamlet appertaining to Duffield".<ref>Bland, J., (1921) ''Old Duffield Village, Church, and Castle, With some Personal Reminiscences,'' Derby:Harpur and Son</ref>

From at least the 13th century there were forges in the Belper and Duffield areas and iron-working became a major source of income, particularly nail making. By the end of the 18th century there were around 500 workshops in the town supplying nails to the newly built [[textile mill]]s. The workshops were eventually superseded by machinery during the 19th century. Some of the nail-makers' houses are still in existence and form part of local tours of the town.

The [[Business magnate|industrialist]] [[Jedediah Strutt]], a partner of [[Richard Arkwright]], built a water-powered cotton mill in Belper in the late 18th century: the second in the world at the time. With the expansion of the textile industry Belper became one of the first [[mill town]]s. In 1784 Strutt built the [[Belper North Mill|North Mill]] and, across the road, the West Mill. In 1803 the North Mill was burnt down and replaced by a new structure designed to be fireproof. Further extensions followed, culminating in the East Mill in 1913 – a present-day Belper landmark. Although no longer used to manufacture textiles the mill still derives electricity from the river, using turbine-driven generators.

[[Jedediah Strutt|Strutt]] had previously patented his "Derby Rib" for stockings, and the plentiful supply of cotton encouraged the trade of [[Stocking frame|framework knitting]] which had been carried on in the town and surrounding villages since the middle of the previous century. Mechanisation arrived about 1850, but by that time the fashion for stockings for men was disappearing. However elaborately patterned stockings, for ladies especially, were coming into vogue, and the output of the Belper "cheveners" was much in demand.

The construction of the [[North Midland Railway]] in 1840 brought further prosperity. Belper was the first place in the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]] to get gas lighting, at a works erected by the Strutts at [[Milford, Derbyshire|Milford]]. Demand was such that in 1850, the Belper Gas and Coke Company was formed, with a works in the present Goods Road. Electricity followed in 1922 from the Derby and Nottingham Electrical Power Company's works at [[Spondon]]. The first telephones came in 1895 from the National Telephone Company. The end of the century also brought the motor car, CH218, owned by Mr. James Bakewell of The Elms being possibly the first.

Belper remained a textile and hosiery centre into the 20th century. Meanwhile, other companies were developing: iron founding led to Park Foundry becoming a leader in the solid-fuel central-heating market; Adshead and Ratcliffe had developed Arbolite putty for iron-framed windows; Dalton and Company, which had been producing lubricating oils, developed ways of recovering used engine oil proving useful during the [[Second World War]]. In 1938, A. B. Williamson had developed a substance for conditioning silk stockings; the introduction of nylon stockings after the Second World War seemed to make it redundant, but mechanics and fitters had discovered its usefulness in cleaning hands and it is still marketed by Deb Group as [[Swarfega]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www2.debgroup.com/sg/about-us/company-history |title=Company History |publisher=Deb Group Ltd. |access-date=19 June 2022}}</ref>