On the way to work #3

Actually this is on the way home, a long exposure in the last light. 
My journey to work takes me along the Derwent valley. The valley is a World Heritage site due to the importance of the first industrial cotton mills that were built alongside the river. This is Belper Mill and the smaller building to the front is the North Mill,. The original North Mill was completed in 1786 but was destroyed by fire in 1803. Its replacement, the present mill, was built in 1804 on the earlier mill's foundations by Jedediah's eldest son William Strutt and is one of the oldest surviving examples of an industrialised iron framed building.
The mill was one of the most technically advanced building of its time, incorporating cast iron instead of timber for the internal structure. 

This innovative use of cast iron marked a major step in the use of metal in building construction, which eventually led to the modern-day skyscraper!

The mill was also the world’s second water-powered cotton-spinning mill  following  the first one, just up the road at Cromford. Cromford is past my daily journey but is an interesting place I will also blip sometime.
The building is mostly derelict and in places is in very bad repair. As a grade 1 building it needs a new use to help keep the heritage. Today its most important function is to house my favourite peregrines !!

Apologies for the lack of comments this week but I have been visiting my brother in hospital in Coventry each evening, he's recovering from a quadruple heart by-pass op and I will hopefully be taking him home tomorrow.