Belper Buzzing For Discovery Days

For the 14th year, Belper’s heritage was celebrated across the town during the annual World Heritage Site Discovery Days Festival, with large turnouts for events, including for the first time the opening of the 1795 gangway footbridge by the mills.

Belper’s main day was Sunday 28 October, and as well as new openings such as the gangway and the Drill Hall on Cluster Road, it saw a host of exhibitions, including Edwardian Belper at No.28 in the Market Place.

Over 20 people had gathered by 10am for the opening of the gangway and Strutt House, and during the six hours it was open, nearly 800 people passed through.

Events in the town and along the valley carried on through the week, with local newspapers from the past 200 years on display and available to read in Belper Library, and Hallowe’en craft events in Strutt’s North Mill, which attracted a lot of families.

Discovery Days continues until Sunday, with a busy weekend ahead at Cromford and Holloway, further up the valley. Details at www.derwentvalleymills.org/discovery-days/

Photo: Lisa Langley-Fogg and Susie Crowley from Derbyshire’s Local Studies Library, showing newspapers to visitors Christine Worth and Janet Scott in Belper Library.