Florence Nightingale: Derbyshire cottage renovations begin

The cottage has been empty for 50 years and has fallen into disrepair in recent years

Renovations have started on a derelict 19th Century cottage once visited by Florence Nightingale.

The pioneering nurse spent much of her childhood in Derbyshire and regularly visited the Aqueduct Cottage near Cromford.

It was built by her uncle Peter Nightingale in 1802 as a lock-keeper's cottage, but has been empty since 1970.

Work is due to finish this summer in time for the 200th anniversary of Nightingale's birth.

Money for the project has come from a £35,000 grant from The Pilgrim Trust and £10,000 raised by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust through crowdfunding.

This money will go towards phase two to complete work inside the Grade II listed cottage.

Florence Nightingale was brought up at her family home in Lea Hurst, near Matlock, Derbyshire

The two storey cottage - which sits in the Lea Wood nature reserve - was last used by a family in 1970, when new sanitation rules made it unfit as a dwelling as it has no water or electricity supply.

Villagers raised money to buy the cottage and gifted it to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.

Recently the trust and volunteers have removed about 20 tonnes of rubble and soil from inside the building and cleared the ground around, and work will soon begin on a new roof, chimney and walls.

Ron Common, a trust volunteer, said people were excited to see the developments.

"People from around the world are watching the project on Facebook," he said.

"Every week we add new posts with the work that is now happening.

"People see it like a television series - they can't wait for the next episode."

The building stood along the Cromford Canal that served Nightingale factories nearby

Manager Alex Morely said the building would be a "wonderful venue" for people to visit.

He added that volunteers had so far "done an incredible job and worked really hard during a very wet autumn preparing the site so building work can begin."