Frogmore Paper Mill is a working

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

situated in

Apsley, Hertfordshire Apsley is a village in Hertfordshire, England, in a valley of the Chiltern Hills below the confluence of the River Gade and Bulbourne. It was the site of water mills serving local agriculture and from the early 19th century became an importa ...

, near

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

. The mill is on an island in the River Gade, which forms part of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...

. It is the oldest mechanical paper mill in the world.

History

There are no surviving records documenting when a mill was first built on the current site, but it is recorded as being a corn mill in 1086 in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

. In 1289, the mill was used for

fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...

; removing oil and other impurities from woolen cloth. It returned to milling grain, then became a fulling mill once more, then finally it had become a paper mill by 1774. The world's first mechanised paper machine was installed at Frogmore Mill in 1803 funded by Sealy and

Henry Fourdrinier Henry Fourdrinier (11 February 1766 – 3 September 1854) was a British people, British paper-making entrepreneur. He was born in 1766, the son of paper maker and stationer Henry Fourdrinier, and grandson of the engraver Paul Fourdrinier, 1698� ...

and engineered by

Bryan Donkin Bryan Donkin FRS FRAS (22 March 1768 – 27 February 1855) developed the first paper making machine and created the world's first commercial canning factory. These were the basis for large industries that continue to flourish today. Bryan D ...

, based upon a design by Nicolas-Louis Robert. This machine allowed continuous automated production of paper rolls. Unfortunately the £60,000 costs of developing the paper machines meant that the Fourdrinier brothers were bankrupted by 1810. For most of the 19th century, the mill was owned by the

Grand Junction Canal The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the English Midlands, Midlan ...

, predecessor of the Grand Union Canal. In 1851, the chemical production of paper from wood (now known as soda pulp), used in newspapers, began at the mill. From 1853 to 1887 the mill was linked to Two Waters Mill, also near Hemel Hempstead. In 1890, the British Paper Company was founded and took over operations at the mill; it fully purchased the premises in 1929. In 2000 the British Paper Company ceased operations and the Apsley Paper Trail was opened to the public. In 2008 a visitor centre was built with financial support from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. The visitor centre was badly damaged in a fire in January 2022.

Operations

The mill is run by The Apsley Paper Trail, a charitable organisation, and operated as a visitor, education and community use centre. Eleven full-time staff are employed at the mill. It has been used for various theatrical productions, including the rock musical '' Rent''.

References

Citations Sources * * *

External links

* {{official website, www.frogmorepapermill.org.uk
The British Paper Company's Frogmore Mill
– Papers in

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

Watermills in Hertfordshire