Water wheels, Cromford Mill, June 2018
Fujifilm X-T1, Fujinon XF 18-135mm f3.5~5.6 R LM OIS WR at 18mm, 1/5s, f22, ISO 200

A dull day here in Derbyshire today but madam dragged me out for an ‘airing’ after she finished work and we ended up at Cromford Mill, part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

This pair of waterwheels caught my eye… the one on the left is an ‘breastshot’ type and the other an ‘overshot’ type. For more information on the different types of water wheel, their design and use, check out this Wikipedia page.

Built between 1771 and 1791 Sir Richard Arkwright’s Mills at Cromford were the world’s first successful water powered cotton spinning mills… almost 200 years later I began my working life just down the road at Sir Richard Arkwright Yarns’ Belper West Mill, now disused after Courtaulds UK Ltd closed the site down in 2016, ending an association with Belper dating back more than 200 years.