Wandering around New Mills - and a brief visit to The Torrs.

Wandering around New Mills – and a brief visit to The Torrs.

Earlier in the week I had occasion to visit New Mills. I think the last time I posted following a walk was after a wander along the Shropshire Union canal. New Mills is a place I have been to a couple of times before. On this occasion I was really there passing time whilst my wife had an appointment in the town.

New Mills is a nice town located in the High Peak district of Derbyshire.

Great location

It’s a decent enough place to wander round, with what seems like a decent variety of pubs, shops and cafe. It’s also located in a very decent part of the country- close to places like the Peak District and the National Trust property at Lyme Park.

Pretty unique

The following (in italics) is a cut and paste from the Visit New Mills web site. The web site is a great place to find out information about the town

The heart of New Mills is the Torrs sandstone gorge where the rivers Sett and Goyt meet. The entire length of the Torrs was developed as an industrial site powered first by water, then by steam and electricity. During the Industrial Revolution New Mills had a significant industry in cotton spinning, bleaching and calico printing. Much of its fascinating heritage remains to be explored, with towering railway viaducts, elegant bridges and the remains of mills on the banks of the river, including the grade II listed Torr Vale Mill which, at 210 years of continuous use, was the UK’s longest running textile mill.

The Torrs Riverside Park is now a pleasant place of recreation: home to the award-winning Millennium Walkway, wildflower meadows running up to the scenic Peak Forest Canal, a rock climbing gritstone wall, and Archie, the community-owned hydroelectric turbine.

The towns origins

I learnt from the Visit New Mills web site that the origins of the town’s name can be traced as far back as1391. At that time the first corn mill there was known then as Berde Mill and was built near the River Sett in the hamlet of Ollersett.

It was the small community that grew up around there that was known as New Milne. Later on around the back end of the sixteenth century the name was being spelt as New Mill and then by 1775 as New Mills.

The development of textile production meant that the folk who built the early mills were drawn to the area to make use of fast flowing rivers of soft water. This in turn gave the power for the machinery and processing fabric production and printing.

Cameras used

And for those who might be interested – the pictures in this post were taken with a Canon Powershot G7 Mk III and a DJI Mini 4 Pro drone. The G7 although a recent purchase isn’t a replacement for my 90D, it’s just an addition to my kit.

I wanted something that was of a suitable quality but that was small and portable. Sometimes carrying a weighty DSLR and lenses isn’t always what I want to do and sometimes of course it just isn’t practical. The G7 ticked all the boxes for me and software and operating system wise just about mirrors my 90D.

We will have to go back

I didn’t really have a great deal of time to wander about as much as I would have liked, especially around The Torrs. My time there was essentially dictated by my wife’s appointment. Nevertheless – I did enjoy myself and am certain that we will go back for a more leisurely stroll and perhaps a coffee and maybe even a cake!

Picture gallery

Clicking any image will open a picture gallery that can be clicked or scrolled through. There are more images in this gallery than in normal posts. In addition to ‘regular’ photographs I have posted a series taken with the drone down in the central area of The Torrs