Caribbean connection
Unwinding the Bobbin
This year, Belper celebrates a remarkable milestone; 250 years ago, Jedediah Strutt’s first water-powered cotton mill beside the River Derwent helped create the world’s earliest factory town – a model of industrialisation that would transform urban life across the UK and beyond.
As exhibitions, performances, walks, talks and cultural events of all kinds celebrate the enterprise and vision that shaped the town, another chapter of Belper’s heritage is coming to light – one that stretches far across the Atlantic to the small Caribbean island of Carriacou.
At first glance, Belper and Carriacou appear worlds apart – yet both places are connected by the threads of empire, industry and shared heritage. Global trade and investment networks developed during the 18th and 19th centuries and, like a thread around a bobbin, this connection has been waiting to be unwound.
Jedediah Strutt’s partnership with Richard Arkwright and his innovations in cotton spinning helped transform textile production. The mills he established in Belper attracted workers from far and wide, encouraged new skills and created a community that became a blueprint for the industrial age.
Later generations of the Strutt family developed a strong commitment to improving the lives of their workforce and the wider town. Housing, schools, churches, parks and social facilities reflected an enlightened, philanthropic approach that recognised the responsibilities that came with material success.
Today, Belper’s mills remain a powerful reminder of this extraordinary period of industrial transformation, forming part of the Derwent Valley Mills UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But Britain’s urban growth was also shaped by events taking place much further afield. The Industrial Revolution depended upon global networks. Cotton crossed oceans, manufactured goods travelled around the world, and merchants, investors and financial institutions connected British factories with overseas markets.
The Strutts of Belper built an industrial empire that transformed a quiet Derbyshire valley into the cradle of the global textile revolution. Yet, behind the spectacular, fireproof architecture of the Belper North Mill and the family’s paternalistic welfare systems lies the insatiable machinery of the raw cotton supply chain, deeply rooted in the transatlantic slave trade.
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Celebrating Belper's pivotal role in the industrial revolution
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The locations across the world that are twinned with Derbyshire towns
Between 1794 and 1803, nearly a quarter of all the raw cotton being spun by the Strutts’ machinery was sourced from the West Indies, and the epicentre of this pipeline was Carriacou. Renowned for producing high-quality, long-staple cotton, the island became an indispensable element in the Derbyshire economic miracle.
Acknowledging these links allows Belper’s industrial heritage to be viewed within a wider context. It does not alter the significance of the town’s achievements; rather, it helps us understand more fully the world in which those achievements took place.
Carriacou, the ‘Island of Reefs’, may measure only 13 square miles but it has a remarkable cultural legacy that was recently added to UNESCO’s register of ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ as an invaluable part of humanity’s shared identity.
Known for its traditional wooden boatbuilding, vibrant regattas, music, dance and other celebrations, the unique ‘Shakespeare Mas’ is without doubt its most intriguing and captivating tradition.
An extraordinary blend of theatre, performance and friendly competition that forms an integral part of the island’s annual Carnival, the Mas comprises performers, known as ‘kings’ who compete by reciting passages from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, alongside biblical verses, historical texts and displays of rhetorical skill. Mistakes are met with a symbolic tap from a whip on a padded headpiece, adding a touch of theatrical humour to the proceedings.
Thought to have evolved from the colonial classroom, Shakespeare Mas has become an exuberant celebration of Carriacou’s community spirit. Once passed from father to son, the tradition is now embraced by women and girls too, with schools and community groups helping to ensure its survival for future generations. Each year, villages proudly support their own performers, making Shakespeare Mas a powerful expression of local pride and belonging.
The island still bears the scars of colonial rule. As cotton was the primary export crop cultivated on estates worked by enslaved Africans, the remains of plantation buildings, windmills and estate walls still punctuate the landscape today, reminders of a difficult past and the resilience of its people.
And the legacy of that dark chapter still resonates. The island’s development struggles are viewed by many historians and locals as an enduring byproduct of the slave trade and colonial underdevelopment. The island faces severe modern challenges, including the devastating impacts of climate change and catastrophic weather conditions like Hurricane Beryl, which destroyed most of the island’s infrastructure in the space of 30 minutes in July 2024.
Exploring these shared histories provides an opportunity not only to understand that heritage, but also to build new relationships in the present.
As part of Belper’s 250th anniversary celebrations, the launch of the Belper–Carriacou Reconnection Partnership marks an exciting new stage in the relationship between the two communities.
Belper Town Councillor, Julie Wozniczka, who has spearheaded and coordinated the partnership, says: ‘We aim to explore and share the links between Belper and Carriacou while celebrating the distinctive cultures that have developed in both places. Bringing together historians, heritage organisations, artists, community groups and young people, it will create opportunities for collaboration, creativity and exchange.
‘At its heart is the belief that heritage is something living, not simply preserved in archives or buildings, but carried through music, dance, storytelling and lived experience.’
There are already fascinating cultural parallels and interconnected histories to explore. Traditions such as Maypole dancing, Quadrille and clog dancing in Derbyshire sit alongside Carriacou’s rich panoply of cultural expression.
Today, Belper is actively choosing to confront its past through pioneering historical initiatives, enabling researchers and local residents to work directly with the Carriacou Museum and descendants of the island’s enslaved workers.
Most importantly, it creates an opportunity for people to meet, exchange ideas and develop friendships based on shared understanding and mutual respect.
Belper’s 250th anniversary is a time to celebrate an extraordinary achievement.
The town’s mills transformed manufacturing, its people fostered new ways of working, and the Strutts created an industrial community whose influence reached far beyond Derbyshire. The anniversary offers a chance to recognise the wider world connected to that achievement. The links with Carriacou remind us that history can connect communities as well as explain them. By exploring every strand of Belper’s heritage, from industrial innovation and social ambition to global connections and cultural exchange, we gain a deeper appreciation of what makes the town unique.
As the celebrations continue, the Belper-Carriacou Reconnection Partnership demonstrates that looking back can also help us look forward.
Unwinding the bobbin reveals not a single thread but a rich tapestry—one woven from invention, enterprise, resilience and human connection. It stretches from the mills of Belper to the shores of Carriacou, showing that after 250 years, this remarkable heritage is not simply something to remember; it is something still being created..
belper250.co.uk
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