Visiting Derby, United Kingdom: Top Sights on Foot

Looking for things to do in Derby? The city is a gateway to some of Derbyshire’s most important historic places, from medieval manor houses and ruined castles to the mills that helped create Britain’s modern factory system. A free Neywo audio guide for Derby brings 435 narrated places to life as you explore.

Derby sits at the heart of a landscape shaped by the River Derwent, industry, country estates and long human history. The city itself offers a starting point, while the surrounding area is filled with distinctive places to see.

What to See in Derby and the Surrounding Area

Derwent Valley Mills

The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site follows the River Derwent through Derbyshire. It was designated in December 2001 and preserves the mills and workers’ settlements associated with the beginnings of Britain’s modern factory system.

The story began in the eighteenth century, when water-powered technology made continuous cotton spinning possible. Richard Arkwright developed the water frame and used water power for cotton production in the 1770s. His first mill was built at Cromford, and the system soon influenced industrial development far beyond the valley. By 1788, more than 200 Arkwright-type mills had been built in Britain.

The industrial landscape remains unusually complete. Mills and associated buildings have been preserved and reused, with many listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments. The site includes 848 buildings recognised for their architectural or historical interest and nine Scheduled Monuments.

Chatsworth House

Set beside the River Derwent, Chatsworth House is surrounded by parkland, wooded hills and heather moorland. It has been the home of the Cavendish family since 1549 and remains the seat of the Duke of Devonshire.

Bess of Hardwick began building a new Chatsworth in 1553. The house was completed in the 1560s, and she lived there with her fourth husband, George Talbot, the sixth Earl of Shrewsbury. The house is also associated with Mary, Queen of Scots, who stayed there several times during her captivity from 1570 onwards. Her rooms are now known as the Queen of Scots rooms.

Much of the present building reflects later transformations. William Cavendish, the fourth Earl of Devonshire, began rebuilding it in 1687, starting with the south wing and its State Apartments. Further changes followed in the eighteenth century.

Haddon Hall

Near Bakewell, beside the River Wye, Haddon Hall is a carefully preserved medieval manor house with origins reaching back to the eleventh century. Additions were made between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, including later Tudor work, but the building retains the form of a medieval manor.

Haddon became associated with the Vernon family through the twelfth-century marriage of Sir Richard de Vernon and Alice Avenell. In 1563, Dorothy Vernon, daughter and heiress of Sir George Vernon, married John Manners, the second son of the first Earl of Rutland. Through this marriage, Haddon passed into the Manners family and became connected with the future Dukes of Rutland.

A nineteenth-century legend claims that Dorothy Vernon and John Manners eloped. Whether or not the story is true, it inspired novels, dramatisations and other works of fiction.

Creswell Crags

Creswell Crags is an enclosed limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, near Creswell and Whitwell. Its cliffs contain caves occupied by Neanderthals and modern humans during the Last Glacial Period, from around 60,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The occupation layers preserve evidence of flint tools made by Neanderthals and by later modern human communities. The caves provide a direct connection with some of the earliest human activity in this part of Britain.

Peveril Castle

The ruins of Peveril Castle overlook Castleton, with views across the Hope Valley and Cave Dale. The fortress was founded sometime between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and its first recorded mention in the Domesday Survey of 1086.

It became the main settlement of William Peverel’s feudal barony, the Honour of Peverel, while Castleton developed as the barony’s economic centre. King Henry II confiscated William Peveril the Younger’s estates in 1155 and visited the castle in 1157, 1158 and 1164. During his first visit, he hosted Malcolm IV, King of Scotland.

The castle came closest to battle in 1216, when a castellan refused to surrender control after King John granted Peveril to William de Ferrers. Although Ferrers was authorised to use force, the castellan eventually capitulated and there is no evidence that the castle was attacked.

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall is one of Derbyshire’s most distinctive Elizabethan country houses. Built for Bess of Hardwick between 1590 and 1597, it was designed by the architect Robert Smythson and is a leading example of the Elizabethan prodigy house.

The building reflects a Renaissance style influenced by ideas that had spread from Florence. Unlike earlier fortified homes, it was constructed at a time when domestic buildings no longer needed to be defensive. Its strong vertical lines, simple geometry and unusually large areas of glass create the famous impression of a “glass cage”.

Inside, the arrangement reflects changing ideas about domestic life. The hall was no longer used for dining: a large dining room occupied the first floor, alongside impressive apartments for the owner.

Bolsover Castle

Bolsover Castle combines a seventeenth-century residence with the earthworks and ruins of a much older medieval castle. The present castle was built in the early seventeenth century, when Sir Charles Cavendish began a new structure between 1612 and 1617 on the site of the twelfth-century fortress.

This layering of medieval remains and later construction gives Bolsover Castle its distinctive character above the surrounding landscape.

Eyam Hall

In the Derbyshire village of Eyam, Eyam Hall is a historic country house west of St Lawrence’s Church. It is recognised as a Grade II* listed building on the National Heritage List for England. From 2013 until 2018, it was leased to the National Trust.

Eyam is also one of the places covered by a Neywo walk, making the village’s historic setting easy to explore at your own pace.

Historic churches and village landmarks

Derbyshire’s smaller villages add further places to see. All Saints Church in Ballidon is a peaceful Grade II listed building cared for by the Friends of Friendless Churches. It is a redundant Anglican church and is no longer used for regular worship.

Other historic churches include the Grade II* listed Church of St Mary in Ilkeston, also known as Saint Mary the Virgin or the Mollis Chapel; the Grade I listed St Mary the Virgin’s Church in Denby; and St Mary’s in Crich, a Grade I listed Church of England parish church. The Church of St Mary in Coton in the Elms, the Church of St Mary in Mapleton and the Church of St Matthew in Overseal are also part of the region’s historic setting.

Explore Derby with a Free Audio Guide

Neywo makes a Derby self-guided walking tour easy to follow. The app includes eight walking tours, one bus route and one bike route in the area, with narration available in 11 languages.

The walks range from 1.33 to 5.08 kilometres and from 45 to 108 minutes. They include:

• Arkwright’s Valley: From the Canal to the Heights — 5.08 km, 108 minutes, 7 narrated stops
• Matlock Bath: Little Switzerland of Derbyshire — 4.26 km, 101 minutes, 8 stops
• Eyam: The Plague Village — 4.35 km, 95 minutes, 6 stops
• Chatsworth Park: Palace of the Peak — 4.79 km, 100 minutes, 5 stops
• Bakewell and Haddon Hall: Pudding Town to Medieval Manor — 4.52 km, 97 minutes, 5 stops
• Ashford in the Water: Bridges of the Wye — 1.33 km, 45 minutes, 4 stops
• Belper: A Mill Town on the Derwent — 1.77 km, 61 minutes, 6 stops
• Buxton: England’s Highest Spa Town — 4.24 km, 91 minutes, 6 stops

There is also a 6.4-kilometre, 27-minute bus route with 4 stops and a 3.1-kilometre, 16-minute bike route with 2 stops. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.

Download Neywo and explore Derby, the Derwent Valley and the surrounding historic villages with a free audio guide. You can also continue discovering England and the wider United Kingdom through Neywo’s destination guides.