Museum of Making opens at Derwent Valley Mills heritage site

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Inside Museum of MakingImage source, Derby Museums
Image caption,

About 30,000 objects are on display at the museum

A major new museum has opened in a UNESCO World Heritage site that housed what is believed to be the world's first successful modern factory.

Derby's Museum of Making features more than 30,000 exhibits, including Rolls-Royce engines and a Silk motorbike.

The attraction is based inside the 300-year-old Grade II listed Silk Mill and replaces a previous museum on the site.

Derby Museums received National Lottery funding for the £18m redevelopment, which has taken 10 years to complete.

Image source, Museum of Making
Image caption,

A Rolls-Royce Trent 1,000 is suspended from the museum's ceiling

The mill sits within the Derwent Valley Mills heritage site, considered "the birthplace of the factory system".

Exhibits include a seven-tonne Rolls-Royce Trent 1,000 engine, suspended from the ceiling above visitors' heads, a Silk 700S motorbike and the Midlands Model Railway, retained from the Silk Mill Museum which operated on the site previously.

There is also a workshop area, inspired by programmes like The Repair Shop, where staff will support visitors to work on their own furniture and jewellery.

Image source, Museum of Making
Image caption,

This tiny engine - one of the world's smallest - will also be on display

Tony Butler, Derby Museums' executive director, said the museum, "tells the story of our industrial and creative past, but it is also a hub for modern makers through the facilities and support on offer".

The National Lottery Heritage Fund contributed £10m to the project.

Anne Jenkins, director for England, Midlands and East, said: "At the start of this journey, Derby Silk Mill was a sleeping giant, under-appreciated and at risk.

"Now, the new Museum of Making is an exemplar cultural attraction that local people can be proud of, a magnet for visitors and a driver for city centre regeneration."

Industrial heritage

Image source, Derby Museums
Image caption,

Tony Butler, from Derby Museums, said "this is no ordinary museum"

  • Cromford to Darley Abbey, along the River Derwent, was granted World Heritage status by Unesco, external in 2001

  • The Derwent Valley Mills are considered "the birthplace of the factory system"

  • The site includes Cromford Mills which was the world's first successful water-powered cotton spinning mill

  • The valley saw pioneering work by Richard Arkwright, Jedediah Strutt, and the Lombe brothers

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