Calver Weir Restoration Project

Calver Weir is a Grade 2 Listed building, Building at Risk, built in the 19th century to provide water to power cotton spinning at Calver Mill, under licence from Richard Arkwright and is an upstream extension of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

CWRP was formed with the aim of restoring Calver Weir and conserving   significant ecological features such as Calver Marshes and important Biodiversity Action Plan Habitats, which have been created by the higher water levels maintained by the Weir.

Calver Weir is important in its own right but needs to be viewed in the context of the whole area to appreciate its full heritage significance. The project therefore also provides protection for sites built in conjunction with the Weir, such as The Shuttle House, Goit, the water wheel at Calver Mill, the former Mill School and other cultural and natural heritage features in the villages of Curbar, Calver, Froggatt and Stoney Middleton.

The Weir has undergone a number of major repairs over the years, but its structure is now seriously damaged and parts of the cross section have been swept away increasing the prospect of further breaches and threatening its stability.

If Calver Weir collapsed, water levels would drop by 3.5 metres, severely limiting the water to a narrow channel in the middle of the river and eventually causing the riverbanks to disintegrate; lower water levels would impair the workings of important heritage sites and cause the devastation of important ecological areas and wildlife habitats.