Although the Derbyshire Wye, is only some 20 miles long, at least twenty five mill sites can be identified along its length. Corn mills have been in operation along the Wye from the time of the Domesday Book (if not earlier) to the present day and they have made an essential contribution to feeding the local population (human and animal), particularly when the Peak District was an isolated area with poor communication to the outside world. Three water powered cotton mills came to the Wye in the 1780s, providing work for nearly one thousand people and bringing major changes to the course of the Wye and to Wye valley generally.