Sunday 3rd and Bank Holiday Monday 4th May 2026
Simply buy your wristband and pick up a brochure, follow the instructions below and hand in your completed form to one of our Heritage Trail buckets at the wristband sales points situated on the Market Place or the Memorial Gardens.
The winning form will be drawn at random after the trail so don’t forget to add your contact details! Entries are only valid if they are written on the form from the brochure.
Dotted around Belper Town Centre are a whole series of information panels about the town’s history.
As well as information, the boards point you towards the next one in the series, and tell you what to look out for on the way.
There’s also a heritage trail, with waterwheel-shaped plaques attached to important buildings, with a line of information and a QR code, so you can use your phone to see photographs of those buildings in the past, or the people associated with them.
To find out more about the panels and trail, and download a map showing where they all are,
You’ll spot some of the panels and plaques on the Arts Trail. See if you can answer the following questions while you’re on the lower and upper trails.
Start in the Coppice Car Park (DE56 1FZ) just off the Market Place. By the entrance is an Information Panel. If you read it you’ll find out the answer to this question:
1) What was the Duffield Frith?
Enter the Market Place and walk up to the No.28 Community Hall. On the wall in front of the building is a Waterwheel Plaque. Scan the QR code to answer this question:
2) When did John Wesley, founder of Methodism, visit Belper?
Cross the Market Place and you’ll see an Information Panel on a waterwheel stand, close to the pedestrian crossing. If you read it you’ll find out the answer to this question:
3) In what year was the first market held?
Once you’ve visited the artists at the top end of town, walk down King Street to the Memorial Gardens. Just inside the entrance on the left-hand wall you’ll see another Information Panel. If you read it you’ll find out the answer to this question:
4) What were these gardens called before 1921?
Continue down King Street. When you reach the channel running down the side of Poundland to the Field Lane car park, have a look for a Waterwheel Plaque on the stone wall, behind the card shop. Scan the QR code to answer this question:
5) What was the Railway Hotel originally called?
Don’t forget to hand in your answers for the chance to win the Heritage Seekers’ prize! There are more panels and plaques with information about Belper – use the map you downloaded at the start (or from any of the information boards) to find out more. Enjoy exploring!
Here are eight questions you can find the answers to on the lower trail. You’ll need a mobile phone with a camera for the Information Points (waterwheel plaques) so you can use the QR codes.
Start at the bus stop outside the Strutts Centre on Derby Road (DE56 1UU). Close by is an Information Panel. If you read it you’ll find out the answer to this question:
6) Who opened the Herbert Strutt School in 1909?
Cross the A6 road at the crossing, then look for the Waterwheel Plaque near the red postbox outside the main entrance to Babington Hospital. Use your phone camera to scan the QR code. You should then be able to answer this question:
7) At the birth of Queen Victoria’s first son in 1842, what did children in the workhouse each receive?
Walking along the A6 towards Belper, opposite Gibfield Lane junction, is the entrance to Belper Rugby Club. Next to the gatepost is a Waterwheel Plaque – scan the QR code.
8) Which company built the iron bridge over the River Derwent?
Cross back over the A6 at the next crossing. At the roundabout, close to the seating on New Road corner, there is another Waterwheel Plaque – scan the QR code.
9) During the Second World War, how many gallons of used engine oils were re-refined for the Royal Air Force and Navy on this site?
Carefully cross over to continue along the A6 (now Chapel Street). On the left is the large stone-built Brettles factory, now a factory shop. By the arched entrance to the courtyard there is another Waterwheel Plaque – scan the QR code.
10) Who did Brettles produce black chevened stockings for?
Carrying on along the A6, on the opposite side of the road, is the bus station. There is an Information Panel outside it, on the wall. If you read it you’ll find out the answer to this question:
11) Who gifted the River Gardens to the town?
Back across the road, there’s a channel leading through to the library, with an Information Panel next to it.
12) Who is the lady in the photograph on the panel?
Cross over again, and you’ll see an Information Panel at the bottom of King Street.
13) What did Thomas Moorley call the Palace Cinema when he built it in 1912?