Summary & Introduction

As the short covering page, "About Us" revealed, the main purpose behind this website was once a personal quest to uncover the history of my house on land once known locally as Short Lands in Belper.

I discovered that the house and land played a part in the development of the now-famous Unitarian Chapel seen in the photo opposite, which was built by Jedediah Strutt from around 1782 (according to some contemporaries.)

Therefore, information about the Chapel, its construction and history, a slideshow of the exterior and interior of the Chapel, its deeds, and its parish records, are all found on this website.

On this website you will find information about the Strutt family (including Jedediah Strutt), their land purchases, deed archives, and also the development of the cotton mills in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Please go to the SITEMAP to find links to all these items. Also please see the external websites on my LINKS pages to find out more.

Hutfall Field and Shortlands

In years gone by there was quite a large tract of farmland where now the rows of Strutt workers' houses stand. The land was part of a large field called "Hutfall Field" which was over a long period of time divided and used by, or sold off to, various tenants.

Over the years, the land was nibbled away, but the greatest inroad was made by Jedediah Strutt who obtained and built upon all the surrounding land, constructing houses for his mill workers, and a large imposing chapel.

This area housed the Strutt mill workers and their families, although it had once been the location of a few cottages here and there, mostly belonging to nailers. Thus this area - comprising Short Rows, Mill Street, Long Row and The Clusters - is the subject of my investigation and interest, as well as having an integral part to play in the history of Belper.