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The tower of Derby Cathedral.
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The city has Roman, Saxon and Viking connections. Derby recently celebrated its 2,000th year as a settlement.
The Roman camp of 'Derventio' was probably at Little Chester/Chester Green
(grid reference SK353375); The site of the old Roman fort is at Chester Green. Later the town was one of the 'Five Boroughs' (fortified towns) of the Danelaw.
The popular belief is that the name 'Derby' is a corruption of the Danish and Gaelic Djúra-bý, recorded in Anglo-Saxon as Deoraby "Village of the Deer".
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However some[who?] assert that it is a corruption of the original Roman name 'Derventio'. The town appears as 'Darby' or 'Darbye' on early modern maps, such as that of Speed (1610).
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Statue of Bonnie Prince Charlie on Cathedral Green
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Modern research (2004) into the history and archaeology of Derby has provided evidence that the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons probably co-existed,
occupying two areas of land surrounded by water. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (c. 900) says that "Derby is divided by water". These areas of land were known
as Norþworþig ("Northworthy", = "north enclosure") and Deoraby, and were at the "Irongate" (north) side of Derby.
16th century - 18th century
During the Civil War of 1642-1646, Derby was garrisoned by Parliamentary troops commanded by Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, who was appointed
Governor of Derby in 1643. These troops took part in the defence of nearby Nottingham, the Siege of Lichfield, the Battle of Hopton Heath and many other
engagements in Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire, as well as successfully defending Derbyshire against Royalist armies.
A hundred years later, Bonnie Prince Charlie set up camp at Derby on 4 December 1745, whilst on his way south to
seize the British crown. The prince called at The George Inn on Irongate, where the Duke of Devonshire had set up his headquarters, and demanded billets for his 9,000 troops.
He stayed at Exeter House, Exeter Street where he held his "council of war". A replica of the room is on display at
Derby Museum in the city centre. He had received misleading information about an army coming to meet him south of
Derby. Although he wished to continue with his quest, he was overruled by his fellow officers. He abandoned his
invasion at Swarkestone Bridge on the River Trent just a few miles south of Derby. As a testament to his belief in his
cause, the prince - who on the march from Scotland had walked at the front of the column - made the return journey on horseback at the rear of the bedraggled and tired army.
Each year at the beginning of December, the Charles Edward Stuart Society of Derby lead a weekend of activities culminating in a parade through the city centre and a battle on Cathedral Green.
Industrial Revolution
Derby and Derbyshire were centres of Britain's Industrial Revolution. In 1717, Derby was the site of the first water
powered silk mill in Britain, built by John Lombe and George Sorocold, after Lombe had reputedly stolen the secrets of
silk-throwing from Piedmont in what is now Italy (he is alleged to have been poisoned by Piedmontese as revenge in 1722).
In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment that revolutionised the
manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee's Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of
- and worked in unison with - Lee's Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt,
William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leading hosiers in Derby).
The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need
- a hosier of Nottingham - joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt and Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773, though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.
Messrs. Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended that Richard Arkwright apply to Strutt and Need for finance
for his cotton spinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard
Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world's first water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford,
Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.
This was followed in Derbyshire by Jedediah Strutt's cotton spinning mills at Belper. They were: South Mill, the first,
1775; North Mill, 1784, which was destroyed by fire on 12 January 1803 and then rebuilt; it started work again at the
end of 1804; West Mill, 1792, commenced working 1796; Reeling Mill, 1897; Round Mill, which took 10 years to
build, from 1803 to 1813, and commenced working in 1816; and Milford Mills, 1778. The Belper and Milford mills were not built in partnership with Arkwright. These mills were all Strutt owned and financed.
Other famous 18th century figures with connections to Derby include Dr Johnson, the creator of the English dictionary,
who married Elizabeth Porter at St. Werburgh's Church, Derby, Derby in 1735; the painter Joseph Wright, known as
Wright of Derby, who was famous for his revolutionary use of light in his paintings and was an associate of the Royal Academy; and John Whitehurst, a famous clockmaker and philosopher.
The beginning of the next century saw Derby emerging as an engineering centre with manufacturers such as James Fox, who exported machine tools to Russia.
In 1840, the North Midland Railway set up its works in Derby and, when it merged with the Midland Counties Railway
and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, to form the Midland Railway, Derby became its headquarters.
The connection with the railway encouraged others, notably Andrew Handyside, Charles Fox and his son Francis Fox.
Derby was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and it became a county borough
with the Local Government Act 1888. The borough expanded in 1877 to include Little Chester and Litchurch, and then
in 1890 to include New Normanton and Rowditch. The borough did not increase substantially again until 1968, when
under a recommendation of the Local Government Boundary Commission it was expanded into large parts of the rural
district of Belper, Repton and South East Derbyshire. This vastly increased Derby's population from 132,408 in the 1961 census to 219,578 in the 1971 census.
Despite being one of the areas of Britain furthest from the sea, Derby holds a special place in the history of marine safety
- it was as MP for Derby that Samuel Plimsoll introduced his bills for a 'Plimsoll line' (and other marine safety measures).
This failed on first introduction, but was successful in 1876 and contributed to Plimsoll's re-election as an MP.
20th century to present day
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Derby Industrial Museum/Silk Mill World Heritage Site
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Derby was awarded city status on 7 June 1977 by Queen Elizabeth II to mark the 25th anniversary of her ascension to the throne. The Queen presented the
"charter scroll" or 'letters patent' in person on 28 July 1977 on the steps of the Council House to the then Mayor Councillor Jeffrey Tillet (Conservative). Until
then, Derby had been one of the few towns in England with a cathedral but not city status.
Derby has a number of public parks, many Victorian in origin. Darley and
Derwent parks lie immediately north of the city centre and are home to owls, kingfishers and other wildlife. Derby Rowing Club and Derwent Rowing Club
are located on the banks of the river. There is also a riverside walk and cycle path from Darley Park south to two other parks. West of the city centre is
Markeaton Park, while to the north is Allestree Park and its lake.
Derby has the first public recreational park in the country to have an arboretum (Derby Arboretum), which lies to the
south of the city centre. The arboretum was set up by the philanthropic landowner and industrialist Joseph Strutt in 1840.
The arboretum's website states that the arboretum's design was the inspiration for the vision of great urban parks in the USA, notably Central Park in New York City.
Derby holds an important position in the history of the Labour movement, because it was one of two seats (the other
being Keir Hardie's in Merthyr Tydfil) gained by the recently formed Labour Representation Committee at the 1900
general election. The MP was Richard Bell, General Secretary of the Railway Servants Union. Bell was succeeded in
1910 by Jimmy Thomas and he in turn by the distinguished polymath and Nobel Laureate Philip Noel-Baker in 1936.
Despite its strategic industries (rail and aero-engine), Derby suffered comparatively little damage in both world wars
(contrast Bristol and Filton). This may in part have been due to the jamming of the German radio-beam navigations
systems (X-Verfahren and Knickebein, camouflage and decoy techniques ('Starfish sites') were built, mainly south of the
town, e.g. out in fields near Foremark (ref. Kirk, Felix & Bartnik, 2002, see talk; see also[9]).
Derby has also become a significant cultural centre for the deaf community in the UK. Many deaf people move to Derby
because of its strong sign language-using community. It is estimated that the deaf population in Derby is at least three
times higher than the national average, and that only London has a larger deaf population. The Royal School for the Deaf on Ashbourne Road provides education in British Sign Language and English.
Derby has been granted Fairtrade City status.
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