Parish Church of St Peter, Chesterfield Road and Church Lane. This large, Gothic Commissioners Church, built in 1824 to replace the old St John's Chapel, enjoys a commanding hillside position. Tree-lined avenues lead through the churchyard towards the tall, slender tower (now unfortunately shorn of its pinnacle tops) which is a prominent landmark on the Belper skyline. With a wide, rectangular nave, shallow sanctuary and large gallery at back and sides, the building remains structurally unaltered. In the west gallery stands the historic 3-manual organ by Holt (1853, enlarged 1873 and recently restored)

Parliament granted £1,000,000 for the erection of new churches to be built throughout the land ‘as a symbol of a nation's gratitude to Almighty God for its safe deliverance’ (there almost certainly were some political motives as well!). Although St John's was licenced for weddings around this time it was clear that it was not sufficient: and so Belper was chosen early on as a beneficiary of Parliament's largess.

The Congregational Church on Green Lane, Belper. The Church group began meeting in 1788 in the former Unitarian Chapel and later obtained land to build its own small chapel in 1799. Subsequently this fine larger church was erected, designed by architect George Woodhouse of Bolton. It was opened in 1872 at a cost of £5,000. It included a separate Sunday School built from the material of the original chapel. The current Congregational Church is now behind this building, built on the site of the old Sunday School, which is probably where the first chapel stood.

The oldest church still used for its original purpose is the Belper Unitarian Church, built in 1788. The present Methodist Church was opened on June 28, 1807 and was originally built to hold 1,400 worshippers.

Long Row

1792-97 - Listed Grade II

This is industrial housing of a high quality. There were originally 77 houses in the Long Row. It was built in the form of three terraces, two of which were continuous until broken by the North Midland Railway in 1840. The 35 three-storey houses are constructed predominantly in sandstone with a continuous sloping eaves line. They are designed with interlocking plans formed around the staircase.

A second Anglican Church, Christ Church, was built in 1850.
Belper Town F.C. play their home games at Christchurch Meadow and are currently in the Northern Premier League Division One South. They are nicknamed The Nailers as a reference to the historical nail manufacturing industry in the town.

Belper's economy was traditionally reliant on manufacturing industry and numerous goods were made in the town. Cotton spinning and textile production were major employers virtually for much of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-centuries. The large East Mill and the smaller North Mill are now all that remain of the industry and are preserved as part of the Derwent Valley Mills world heritage site.

The Strutt family were instrumental in developing the idea of public gardens. Long before George Herbert Strutt (1853-1928) developed the River Gardens, his great uncle Joseph Strutt (1765-1844) donated the Arboretum to Derby and promoted its use in the 1840s. Following this, similar schemes started to proliferate throughout Britain, until, in 1906, George Herbert Strutt provided the River Gardens for Belper.

George Henry Strutt had the Market Place paved in 1880, and a commemorative fountain was erected by the townspeople to recognise this contribution to the betterment of the town. It was never connected to a water supply, and still stands, perpetually dry, today.

Looking down Bridge Street from the Market Square.

The entrance gate to St John's chapel.

St. John's Chapel.Originally consecrated in 1250 as the Chapel of St Thomas, it was rededicated to St John during the reign of King Henry VIII. St John's Chapel is still in use today and is thought to be the oldest building still standing in Belper.