Barbara and Graham's Family Tree
Lumsdale
Lumsdale
The
1841/51 and 61 censuses show William Wragg (Edward Wragg's great
grandfather) living in Lumsdale, Matlock, Derbyshire and working as a
bleacher.
He lived in a row of cottages which are now called Pond Cottages. (see picture right). From the 1848/9 Matlock tithe map, it was possible to identify that he lived in the one which is now no. 5 Pond Cottages. These buildings were originally erected in 1749 as furnaces to smelt lead, but were converted into workers cottages around 1789. No. 5 is now rented out as a holiday home.
Lumsdale valley is an important industrial archaeological site which was based on water power and built along Bentley Brook. It is now managed by the Arkwright Society. It has the remains of a number of mills and bleachworks (an upper and lower bleachworks).
This is the part of the Matlock tithe map showing Lumsdale.
map
William would have worked there and also in the 1851 census, it shows two of his sons John (aged 15) and William (aged 12) both working there. Below are photographs of the remains of the upper (left) and lower (right) bleachworks where you can see the troughs where they bleached the cloth.
Additional Information
Arkwright Society
They manage the archaeological sites in Lumsdale and their site gives
some information about Lumsdale.
Lumsdale page
Tansley Village Web Site
The local history section of this web site has some photographs of
Lumsdale and also directions for a walk through the valley.
Tansley Village
Pond Cottages
The web site for number 5 which is now a holiday cottage.
5 Pond Cottages