Museum of Making · Derby

Where industry became inspiration.

On the banks of the Derwent, a pioneering silk mill has become a living museum of ideas—celebrating the people, materials and machines behind 300 years of making.

Explore the museum Official visitor information ↗
Derby Silk Mill illustration An abstract brick mill with tall windows, a clock tower, river and woven threads.
Threads of inventionFrom water-powered silk throwing to railways and aerospace.

A place that changed the world

A mill becomes a movement.

Derby Silk Mill is widely regarded as the site of the world’s first modern factory. Today, the Museum of Making connects that remarkable industrial beginning with Derby’s continuing culture of creativity, engineering and invention.

1720s

The Lombe brothers establish a water-powered silk mill beside the Derwent.

2001

The Derwent Valley Mills are inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

2021

The transformed Museum of Making opens, built with and for Derby’s makers.

Look up. Look closer.
Then make something.

The collection is arranged to invite curiosity—not simply to tell one fixed story.

01 · THE CIVIC HALL

A seven-tonne welcome

A Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine hangs dramatically above the museum’s triple-height entrance.

02 · THE ASSEMBLAGE

Materials tell the story

Thousands of objects are grouped by what they are made from, creating unexpected connections.

03 · THE WORKSHOP

A museum that makes

Tools, skills and creative programmes turn industrial heritage into new possibilities.

Plan your visit

Follow the river to the mill.

Entry to the main Museum of Making galleries is free. Check Derby Museums for current opening times, exhibitions, accessibility information and group arrangements before travelling.

Visit the official website ↗
Museum of Making Silk Mill Lane
Derby · DE1 3AF