With the expansion of the mill at Cromford, it soon became apparent that the existing population of the town would be inadequate to provide the labour needed for the scale of operations which Arkwright was planning.
He therefore brought in workers from outside the locality, building a cluster of cottages near the mill to house them (he also built the Greyhound public house, which still stands in Cromford market square).
One source states that the workers' homes are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in the world".

Arkwright instigated novel and highly-disciplined working arrangements at Cromford.
Work was organised in two 13-hour shifts per day, including an overlap for the change of shift.
Bells rang at 5 am and 5 pm and the gates were shut precisely at 6 am and 6 p.m.: anyone who was late was excluded from work for the rest of the day and lost an extra day's pay.
Arkwright encouraged weavers with large families to move to Cromford.
Whole families were employed, including large numbers of children as young as seven (subsequently increased to ten); and towards the end of his tenure, nearly two-thirds of the 1,150 employees were children.
He allowed employees a week's holiday a year, on condition that they did not travel beyond the town.

After establishing the mill at Cromford, Arkwright returned to Lancashire and took up a lease of the Birkacre mill at Chorley, which was to become a catalyst for the town's growth into one of the most important industrialised towns of the Industrial Revolution.

In 1777 Arkwright leased the Haarlem Mill in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, where he installed the first steam engine to be used in a cotton mill (actually this was used to replenish the millpond that drove the mill's waterwheel rather than to drive the machinery directly).

He was invited to Scotland, where he assisted David Dale in establishing cotton mills at New Lanark.
A large mill of Arkwright's at Birkacre in Lancashire, was destroyed in the anti-machinery riots of 1779.
With the expansion of the mill at Cromford, it soon became apparent that the existing population of the town would be inadequate to provide the labour needed for the scale of operations which Arkwright was planning. He therefore brought in workers from outside the locality, building a cluster of cottages near the mill to house them (he also built the Greyhound public house, which still stands in Cromford market square). One source states that the workers' homes are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in the world". 
Arkwright instigated novel and highly-disciplined working arrangements at Cromford. Work was organised in two 13-hour shifts per day, including an overlap for the change of shift. Bells rang at 5 am and 5 pm and the gates were shut precisely at 6 am and 6 p.m.: anyone who was late was excluded from work for the rest of the day and lost an extra day's pay. Arkwright encouraged weavers with large families to move to Cromford. Whole families were employed, including large numbers of children as young as seven (subsequently increased to ten); and towards the end of his tenure, nearly two-thirds of the 1,150 employees were children. He allowed employees a week's holiday a year, on condition that they did not travel beyond the town.
After establishing the mill at Cromford, Arkwright returned to Lancashire and took up a lease of the Birkacre mill at Chorley, which was to become a catalyst for the town's growth into one of the most important industrialised towns of the Industrial Revolution.
In 1777 Arkwright leased the Haarlem Mill in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, where he installed the first steam engine to be used in a cotton mill (actually this was used to replenish the millpond that drove the mill's waterwheel rather than to drive the machinery directly).
He was invited to Scotland, where he assisted David Dale in establishing cotton mills at New Lanark. A large mill of Arkwright's at Birkacre in Lancashire, was destroyed in the anti-machinery riots of 1779.
Richard Arkwright