Darnley Cascade
Darnley Cascade
LocationHamilton, Ontario
Coordinates43°16′35″N 80°00′25″W / 43.27648°N 80.00685°W / 43.27648; -80.00685
TypeCascade
Total height4 m (13 ft)
Total width22 m (72 ft)
WatercourseSpencer Creek

Darnley Cascade is a 4-metre-high (13 ft) cascade waterfall located at Crooks Hollow Conservation Area in Greensville, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.[1] Nearby attractions include Bruce Trail, Dundas Valley Conservation Area, Spencer Gorge/Webster's Falls Conservation Area, Hermitage ruins, Royal Botanical Gardens, Dundurn Castle, Christie Lake Conservation Area, Dundas Historical Society Museum and Carnegie Gallery.[2]

The waterfall got its name from the Darnley Grist Mill, completed in 1813 by Scottish settler James Crooks, who admired Lord Darnley and claimed him as an ancestor.[1][3][4] The grist mill was sold to James Stutt after Crooks' death in 1860. Darnley Cascade is sometimes referred to as Stutt's Falls, a name which is used on vintage postcards of the area.[1] The mill burned down in 1934, but the ruins remain.[5]

An article published in November 2020 states that the Darnley mill was expanded in 1829 to include "a distillery, a linseed oil mill, a cooperage, a card clothing factory, a fulling and drying works, a tannery, a woollen mill, a foundry, an agricultural implement factory and Upper Canada’s first paper mill". The community also grew in that era, with a general store and inn; residents lived along the valley road. Today, the site "is considered to be one of Ontario’s oldest ruins and is just one of the remains of the early industrial empire of James Crooks and of the community which became Crooks Hollow".[6]

Another nearby mill which was destroyed by fire in 1875, also built by James Crooks, is considered to have been "Upper Canada's First Paper Mill (1826)".[7][8]

Directions

According to the Hamilton Waterfalls web site, the cascade and the grist mill ruin is not difficult to find.[9]

From Highway 403 take Highway 6 North (Guelph) exit and travel approximately 3 km to Hwy 5 E. (Dundas St. E.). Turn left on Hwy 5 E. and then turn left onto Ofield Rd. S. Turn right onto Harvest Rd., Harvest Rd. will become Crooks Hollow Rd. Park on the right, past the Spencer Creek bridge, at the Darnley Mill ruins.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Hamilton- Waterfall Capital of the World". (www.cityofwaterfalls.ca). Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  2. ↑ Hamilton Waterfalls and Cascades: Research & Inventory Report, 2nd Edition. Hamilton Conservation Authority. November 2007.
  3. ↑ "Cultural History of Hamilton's Waterfalls" (PDF). Hamilton Conservation Authority. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  4. ↑ Huggard, Robert E. (February 2014). "Ramsay Crooks of the American Fur Company: A Biography". Archived from the original on 2020-10-19. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  5. ↑ "Crooks Hollow Heritage Walk". Hamilton Conservation Authority. Retrieved 2014-06-29.
  6. ↑ "Crooks Hollow & Boston Mills: Two great sites for Ontario heritage hunters". Metroland. 14 November 2020. Retrieved 15 November 2020. The industries thrived for more than half a century. But the railways bypassed the community in favour of Dundas, and many Crooks Hollow industries relocated trackside, although some of its mills and factories survived into the 20th century. The stone gristmill, then known as the Darnley Mill, lasted until 1934 when it burned, leaving only the stone walls.
  7. ↑ "Upper Canada's First Paper Mill 1826". Read the Plaque. 11 March 2014. Retrieved 15 November 2020. On 160 ha of land purchased here in 1811, Crooks had, by 1822, erected a number of other mills, creating Crooks' Hollow, one of the province's largest concentrations of industry. Construction of the paper mill was encouraged by an expanding domestic market and the British government's imposition in 1826 of a high tariff on paper imported into Canada
  8. ↑ "Hiking the GTA". Heritage Trust. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Two economic factors encouraged James Crooks to construct a paper mill on Spencer Creek: the growing domestic market and the high tariff imposed on imported paper.
  9. ↑ "Behind a bittersweet industry". Hamilton Conservation Authority. 1 March 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2020. Parking, park, trail, Darnley Grist Mill ruins, interpretive signage, dam
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