1-152-260 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

The first cotton mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, and Richard Arkwright's house, 1836. Arkwright (1732-1792) was the inventor of textile manufacturing machinery which included the first practical means of mechanical spinning using rollers. He installed the first of his water-powered spinning frames at Cromford, Wirksworth, Derbyshire in 1771. The invention of the spinning machine revolutionised the production of yarn and led to rapid mechanisation of textile manufacturing throughout Britain. It also made Arkwright a very wealthy man. He commissioned the building of a grand house for himself, Willersley Castle, in a prominent location overlooking the River Derwent in Derbyshire, but died before it was completed. According to The Gentleman's Magazine, Arkwright had accumulated a fortune of £500,000 at the time of his death in 1792. From The Mirror, 22 October 1836.