Global Cotton Connections: East meets West in the Derbyshire Peak District, UK

英国因其“工业革命”而闻名，棉纺织是其中的关键组成部分。许多早期的磨坊位于可以利用水力的农村地区。现在部分被国家公园覆盖的德比郡山顶区就是这样一个地区。在小镇和农田中发现了世界上最早的水力棉纺厂的遗址，其中几个形成了德温特山谷棉纺厂世界遗产的中心。然而，这个重要的棉纺织遗产地区的全球联系往往仍然模糊不清。在印度、埃及和美洲奴隶种植园种植的原棉来源很少被确认。不仅为国内市场而且为殖民地市场生产的棉织品的重要性，包括奴隶贸易和种植园供应，仍然被隐藏起来。这种缺席加剧了印第安和非洲加勒比遗产群体的排斥和疏离感，这些遗产遗址和更广泛的农村地区的游客已经很少有代表。该项目旨在将这个重要的世界工业创新基地与过去和现在从事棉纺织生产的人和地方重新联系起来。通过对历史档案的审查，将提供有关棉花供应和产品使用的新信息。它将利用这些新的历史信息，为来自不同遗产背景的三个当地社区团体的合作提供信息：位于格洛索普的前德比郡纺织工人、谢菲尔德的印度教遗产团体和诺丁汉内城的非洲加勒比遗产团体。这些团体将被鼓励反思这一新的信息，并在德文特山谷磨坊世界遗产遗址的帮助下参观磨坊遗址，以帮助他们进一步了解这些问题。社区团体将与项目团队一起考虑如何在山顶地区的中心更好地体现全球性、多样化的遗产观点，并将开发一套材料来帮助实现这一目标。除了这种非常本土化的方法，该项目还将举办一个国际棉花研讨会，邀请来自印度和美洲的棉花专家，为匹克区棉纺织工业及其遗产地提供新的视角。参与合作研究的学者、慈善机构和社区团体代表将出席。以这种方式将人们聚集在一起，将有助于在学术界、第三部门组织和对棉花联系感兴趣的公众之间建立个人联系，并旨在鼓励未来开展更多的合作工作。

Britain is famous for its 'Industrial Revolution' and cotton textiles were a key component of this. Many early mills were located in rural areas where water power could be harnessed. The Derbyshire Peak District, now partly covered by a National Park, is one such area. Amidst small towns and farmland the sites of the earliest water-powered cotton mills in the world are found, several of which form the heart of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Yet the global connections of this important cotton textile heritage area often remain obscured. The sources of raw cotton grown in India, Egypt and on slave-worked plantations in the Americas are rarely identified. The importance of the cotton goods produced for not only domestic but colonial markets, including the slave trade and plantation supplies remain hidden. Such absences contribute to feelings of exclusion and alienation amongst Indian and African Caribbean heritage groups already poorly represented as visitors to such heritage sites and the wider countryside.This project sets out to reconnect this important world site of industrial innovation with the people and places involved in cotton textile production in the past and now. Through examination of historical archives it will provide new information on cotton supplies and product use. It will use this new historical information to inform collaborative work with three local community-based groups from different heritage backgrounds: former Derbyshire textile workers based in Glossop, a Sheffield Hindu heritage group and an inner city Nottingham group of African Caribbean heritage. The groups will be encouraged to reflect on this new information and undertake visits to the mill sites, facilitated by the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, to help them gain further insight into the issues. In conjunction with the project team the community groups will consider how global, diverse heritage perspectives might be better represented in the heart of the Peak District and will develop a set of materials to help do this. As well as this very local approach, the project will run an international cotton workshop, hosting cotton experts from India and the Americas, to provide new perspectives on the Peak District cotton textile industry and its heritage sites. This will be attended by academics, charities and representatives of the community groups involved in the collaborative research. Bringing people together in this way will help develop personal links between academics, third sector organisations and publics interested in the connections of cotton and with the aim of encouraging more collaborative work in the future.