The six houses of Staffordshire Row were built in the late eighteenth century^[1]; the houses today are nos. 30 - 46 Water Lane and the listed buildings are part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site.

Staffordshire Row is on the very edge of the ancient parish boundary of Matlock, at the junction of the road which goes on to the Via Gellia and Bonsall. The houses were built of local gritstone and are believed to have been erected by Sir Richard Arkwright on land he had bought in 1784^[1].

It is believed that Arkwright built the houses for workers in his mills^[1]. Examination of some of the census returns^[2] reveals that although members of the households may have worked in the local cotton mills, this wasn't necessarily the case with the heads of each household. For example, of the nine households in 1841 there were 3 labourers, 2 independents, 1 cotton spinner (Samuel Gould), 1 hatter and 2 lead miners^[2]. In 1871 the occupations of the head of house for the nine households were butcher, coal merchant, cordwainer, day labourer, farmer, gardener, retired laundress and railway plate layer. In 1901 Herbert Gillott, one of the eight heads of house, worked in the mills as a cotton winding overlooker^[2]. The other occupations were a coal carter, a clerk in a hosiery works, two Joiners/Carpenters and railway worker, house duties and someone of independent means^[2].

References (coloured links are to transcripts elsewhere on this web site):

^[1] "The Derwent Valley Mills and their Communities" (2001), The Derwent Valley Mills Partnership, County Hall, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG. ISBN 0-9541940-0-4, p.30.

^[2] Census returns for the Matlocks were poor in providing exact addresses but Staffordshire Row is named in the 1841 census, the 1871 census and the 1901 census. One of the families was away in on the night of the 1901 census.