City of Making - Derby
Derby is a city in the East Midlands of England. It sits on the River Derwent at the southern end of the Pennine Hills.
Around the year 80 the Romans built a fort east of the Derwent and called it Derventio; this was abandoned in the fifth century when the Roman troops left Britain.
In the ninth century the Danes set up their own fortified settlement in a similar place. They called it ‘Deoraby’ – the place of deer.
In 917 the Saxons took Deoraby and the settlement became a small town. A royal charter was granted in 1154 and another in 1204.
In the early 18th century John and Thomas Lombe built a silk mill on the banks of the Derwent, using Italian technology, and this may have been the first fully mechanised factory.
In the following centuries it became an important centre for silk, lace and cotton.
Porcelain manufacture began in 1750. King George III visited in 1773 and the goods were then known as Crown Derby.
Canals were built to transport raw materials to the town, and in the early 19th century it became a centre for the railways.
The Roundhouse was built in 1839 and is the oldest survivor of its type – a structure enabling locomotives to be turned around.
In the twentieth century Derby became known as the home of Rolls-Royce. From car manufacturers in the first part of the century they went on to also build aircraft engines, being known among others for the Merlin, the Dart, and the Trent.
In 1977 the town of Derby was officially declared a city.
Derby’s population in 2021 was over 260,000, a five percent increase over the previous ten years. It is the third most populated local authority in the East Midlands after Leicester and Nottingham. The average age of people living in Derby is 36, younger than the average in England where it’s 40.
The Derby horse race was founded by the 12th Earl of Derby in 1780. But it has always been held in Epsom, south of London. The term ‘Derby’ is also used for a football fixture between two teams with a local rivalry – the word probably derives from the rugby fixture between Wigan and St Helens, which opposes two neighbouring towns, both of which used to belong to the Earl of Derby (and neither of which is near Derby; they're between Liverpool and Manchester).
AUXILIARY MATERIAL
“Roman Fort”, “Danish Settlement,” “Saxon Settlement,” “Horse Race” generated by NightCafe
https://creator.nightcafe.studio/
“King George III” by Benjamin West, 1779 – public domain
“Rolls Royce 25/30” – public domain.
“Derby Roadhouse” by Diego Sideburns - https://www.flickr.com/photos/diego_s...
Under Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivs 2.0 Generic