Charles Colledge, who took this picture, was looking upstream. The entrance to Willersley is on the far right and he has quite cleverly ensured that the Castle building is above the central pointed arch of the bridge.

Miss Edith Ann Arkwright of Willersley married Mr. Richard Digby Cleesby, a barrister, on 19 April 1870 in St. Mary's Church on the far side of the bridge but not seen here. The journalist assigned to cover the story allocated a good deal of his copy to describing the local scenery. He wrote that Cromford Bridge was "formerly ... but a pack horse bridge, but now is twice its previous width. It has peculiarities about it, one of which is that the arches are pointed on one side and circular on the other. The bridge is said to occupy the site of a Roman ford^[1]." Matlock Bridge, a few miles away, is another bridge where the style of one side is different from the other side. Cromford, though, "is also remarkable, as being the scene of a man named Froggatt, whose horse leaped over the bridge into the river, the rider retaining his seat, and both himself and horse escaping unhurt"^[1].

However, as the inscription on the south-eastern parapet of the bridge that records this story is not for someone with the initials W. F. and instead definitely reads B. H., the gentleman riding the horse would have been Mr. Benjamin Hayward who lived nearby in 1697 and was a prominent member of the community at that time.
The inscription on the bridge can be found amongst the Matlock MIs (scroll down).

The exploits of B. H. in 1697 were explained more fully in 1926 when it was said that the rider was travelling in the direction of Cromford Bridge but was unable to negotiate the curve. His horse leapt over the parapet into the swollen river. Fortunately, both horse and rider escaped unhurt. The newspaper correspondent added that:- "I examined the famous inscription Cromford Bridge. It is on the face of one of the big stones forming the bridge wall on the down-stream side of the road at the Cromford end"^[2].

Arthur Jewitt, in "The Matlock Companion" of 1835, referred to several accidents here. He added that they occurred when horses came "at full speed, leaping over the then low parapet at the end next to the cottage, into the river below". Whilst the engraved stone records one leap, there were two others "by two horses of Mr. Arkwright's, ridden by his grooms". None of the accidents resulted in a fatality, fortunately^[3].

Edward Bradbury, the author and journalist known as "Strephon", thought that Cromford Bridge was an architectural curiosity: "it was formerly a pack saddle structure and was widened during the last century"^[4]. Benjamin Bryan, noting that it was partly in Matlock parish, as the boundary line ran along the centre of the river, said it had been maintained by the county since Easter, 1700^[5].

On the extreme left hand end of the bridge you can just see a wall of the ancient medieval chapel. There are very few remaining in the country and even fewer that are complete buildings.
Michael Fay's article, "The End of a Long and Winding Road", in the Matlock section of this website has a picture taken of the restoration of the chapel next to the bridge and there are also two photos of the old fishing lodge that is by the roadside next to it (see images 11, 12 and 13).

As for the story about Mr. Froggatt, a newspaper published some years before the Arkwright wedding took place sheds a little more light on his tale^[6]. On the day of The Matlock Bath Riot in 1863 some of the massive crowd took refreshment at The Greyhound in Cromford Market Place, later passing through the Tors. William Froggatt lived at The Lodge there and worked for the Arkwrights. He told the visitors of his strange leap over Cromford Bridge with a horse, and how he and the the horse had dropped into the river, and escaped unhurt. Undoubtedly, a great crowd pleaser that might have earned him a few coins.

References:

^[1] "Derbyshire Times", 23 April 1870.

^[2] "Derby Daily Telegraph", 2 July 1926. Town and County Gossip. The journalist added that Bulmer (1895) was his source: "Bulmer says that the over-vaulting horseman was named Froggatt". Bulmer's Directory does indeed state that the horseman was Mr. Froggatt, but Bulmer has previously been found to contain some inaccuracies.

^[3] Jewitt, Arthur (1835) "The Matlock Companion; and visitor's guide to the beauties of Matlock ..., including also a brief sketch of Buxton". Second edition. Duffield, Derby. Perhaps William Froggatt was one of the Arkwright family's grooms.

^[4] "Derbyshire Times", 31 August 1895. The Derwent and its tributaries by Edward Bradbury ("Strephon"). Bradbury meant it had been widened in the 18th century.

^[5] Bryan, Benjamin (1903) "History of Matlock - Matlock, Manor and Parish" London by Bemrose & Sons, Limited.

^[6] "Derbyshire Times", 15 April 1863. William Froggatt was living at the Lodge in the 1861 census.