Borrowash Hydro

Borrowash Hydro is a hydro-electric power plant built on the River Derwent in Borrowash, Derbyshire.

Borrowash Hydro
Country	United Kingdom
Location	Borrowash, Derbyshire, United Kingdom
Coordinates	52°54′9.8″N 1°23′4.4″W
Commission date	1995
Thermal power station
Turbine technology	Hydroelectric
Tidal power station
Crosses	River Derwent
Power generation
Nameplate capacity	100 kw/h

The location is the site of the former Borrowash Mill. The power plant was installed by Derwent Hydro^[1] in 1995 with a capacity of 100kw/h.^[2]

Borrowash Mill

The earliest mention of a mill on the site dates from the Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas compiled in 1291 which says that the Abbot of Dale had a mill at ‘Borwesasse’.^[3] This is assumed to be a corn mill.

Around 1800 another mill was built as a cotton mill by Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington and operated by John Towle and Co. It became known as 'Towle's Mill'.

On 12 April 1928 a fire broke out. The mill at this time was operated by the English Cotton Company.^[4]

The mill continued to operate as a flock mill providing material for the manufacture of bedding until it closed and was demolished in the middle 1960s.