Building record MDR4661 - Arched Footbridge and Mill Offices, Bridge Foot, Belper

The late 18th/early 19th century road archway and footbridge (including the offices that form the south part of the block to the east side of archway) are Grade II* listed. The road archway is said to date from the 1790s and is of two storeys constructed from shlar with a slate roof and a large segmental arch for the double carriageway across the main road flanked by round headed pedestrian archways. The western wall dividing the archways contains a drinking fountain. The first floor has gun embrasures commanding the roadway and thought to have been installed in case of attack by the Luddites. The building to the western side of the arch is of three storeys constructed from ashlar. A footbridge or gangway extends along the roadside to the north. The office building to the east of the arch is of three storeys constructed from stone with round corner turrets to the south corners. (1) SK 34534803. The stone archway, of circa 1795, connected a previous North Mill, (now Belper North Mill, SK 34 NW 26) and the West Mill. The office block, of the early 1800's, was altered in 1912. (2) A sandstone bridge links the two separate areas of the former Strutt Mills complex on either side of the Ashbourne road. The archway also served a defensive role. Along its length are gun embrasures which protected the West Mill counting house. (3) A covered archway built c. 1790 by Jedediah Strutt to link the North Mill site to the West Mill site, now occupied by a single storey modern mill. The gun embrasures were incorporated as a precaution against civil unrest, but they were never used. (4)