Frogmore Paper Mill

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. In 1289, the mill was used for fulling; removing oil and other impurities from woolen cloth.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=46}} It returned to milling grain, then became a fulling mill once more, then finally it had become a paper mill by 1774.{{cite web|url=https://www.thepapertrail.org.uk/frogmore-mill|title=Frogmore Paper Mill|publisher=The Aspley Paper Trail|access-date=5 September 2018|archive-date=6 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906052448/https://www.thepapertrail.org.uk/frogmore-mill|url-status=dead}} The world's first mechanised paper machine was installed at Frogmore Mill in 1803 funded by Sealy and Henry Fourdrinier and engineered by Bryan Donkin, 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.{{sfn|Hills|1988|pp=96–97}}{{sfn|HALS|1998|pp=2–3}}

For most of the 19th century, the mill was owned by the Grand Junction Canal, predecessor of the Grand Union Canal.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=46}} 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.{{sfn|HALS|1998|pp=5, 8}} In 1890, the British Paper Company was founded and took over operations at the mill; it fully purchased the premises in 1929.{{sfn|Cooper|2015|p=46}}

In 2000 the British Paper Company ceased operations and the Apsley Paper Trail was opened to the public.{{Cite book|last=Stanyon|first=Michael|title=Following the Paper Trail: In Hertfordshire's Gade Valley|publisher=APT|year=2022|isbn=978-1-909851-06-1|location=England|pages=43|language=English}}

In 2008 a visitor centre was built with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The visitor centre was badly damaged in a fire in January 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-60102337|title=Apsley: Historic Frogmore Paper Mill closed after visitor centre fire|date=23 January 2022|publisher=BBC|access-date=14 February 2022}}

File:Fourdrinier machine model.jpg

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/news/future-looks-bleak-for-historic-paper-mill-after-planning-refusal-1-6862997|title='Future looks bleak' for historic paper mill after planning refusal|newspaper=Hemel Today|date=22 July 2015|access-date=5 September 2018}} It has been used for various theatrical productions, including the rock musical Rent.{{cite news|url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-TV-First-Look-at-RENT-at-the-Worlds-Oldest-Papermill-20180710|title=First look at RENT at the World's Oldest Papermill|work=Broadway World|date=10 July 2018|access-date=5 September 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.londontheatre1.com/reviews/review-of-jonathan-larsons-rent-at-frogmore-paper-mill/|title=Review of Jonathan Larson's RENT at Frogmore Paper Mill|work=London Theatre|date=13 July 2018|access-date=5 September 2018}}

Citations

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Sources

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• {{cite book|title=Hertfordshire's Historic Inland Waterway: Batchworth to Berkhamsted|first=John|last=Cooper|publisher=Amberley Publishing|year=2015|isbn=978-1-445-65298-6}}
• {{cite book|last=Hills|first=Richard Leslie|authorlink=Richard L. Hills|title=Papermaking in Britain 1488–1988|url=https://archive.org/details/papermakinginbri0000hill|url-access=registration|publisher=Athlone Press|year=1988|isbn=978-1-474-24128-1}}
• {{cite report|url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/download/GB0046%20D-EDI|title=Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies|publisher=National Archives|date=December 1998|access-date=5 September 2018|ref={{harvid|HALS|1998}}}}

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• {{official website|www.frogmorepapermill.org.uk}}
• [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/3718785d-d4d6-45d0-8b8b-e48014d1e52c The British Paper Company's Frogmore Mill] – Papers in The National Archives

Category:Watermills in Hertfordshire