Cromford, small market town and township with ry. sta., Wirksworth par., N. Derbyshire, on Cromford Canal, 2 miles N. of Wirksworth and 142 miles NW. of London, 1324 ac., pop. 1074; P.O., T.O. Market-day, Saturday. The town owes its prosperity to Sir Richard Arkwright, who erected here, in 1776, the first cotton mill in the co., and the largest at that time in the kingdom. The mills are still worked by the Arkwright family, but their activity has declined to some extent during recent years. There are lead and colour works.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))