It is at the point where the River Wye flows into the River Derwent and prospered from mills on both. The border of the Peak District National Park runs through the village west of the River Wye and immediately to the north of Chatsworth Road. The Peak District Boundary Walk goes through the village.[4]
It was the site of an extensive motive power depot and marshalling yard, the first being built by the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway with a railway station designed by Joseph Paxton in 1849. This was replaced by a new station when the line was extended northwards in 1862. It was frequently used by King Edward VII when he visited Chatsworth House. The original station became a goods depot until 1968, when it was used as a contractor's yard. It then became the centrepiece of a shopping development known as Peak Village.
Railway stations
Rowsley South
Rowsley South is the northern terminus of the preserved heritage railway Peak Rail; it is about a quarter of a mile south of the village itself. The line currently runs for a length of four miles from Matlock.
Rowsley
Peak Rail are close to securing a 99-year lease with the local council on the disused trackbed from Rowsley South to the A6 road, at the site of the former Rowsley station site. The former station, which is still extant, will have to be rebuilt.[6]
The Peacock at Rowsley. (1869). A gossiping book about fishing and country life with a descriptive of a well-known resort of anglers at the junction of the Wye and River Derwent, by John Joseph Briggs, London: Bemrose and Sons
