5-27, MILE ASH LANE

This is a range of twelve terraced houses, numbers 5 to 27 Mile Ash Lane, built between 1795 and 1796. They were constructed by the Evans family as housing for mill workers and have slate roofs. The houses are arranged in mirror-image pairs, sharing chimney stacks. They feature segmental brick-arched lintels above sash windows, which are generally multi-paned with glazing bars. A distinctive angled brick header dentil course runs along the eaves. The buildings were sited at the key access point off the turnpike road from Derby, into the Darley Abbey settlement, and are built on a slight curve, with the houses stepped along the party walls to deal with the sloping ground.

These 18th and 19th century houses and schoolrooms at Darley Abbey, built or acquired by the Evans family for their employees, are notable as a group when compared to the settlements developed by Richard Arkwright at Cromford and Jedediah Strutt at Belper and Milford.