| Frogmore Paper Mill | |
|---|---|
 View from Durrants Hill Road Bridge | |
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| General information | |
| Coordinates | 51°44′19″N0°28′06″W / 51.7385°N 0.4683°W |
| Owner | The Apsley Paper Trail |
| Website | |
| www | |
Frogmore Paper Mill is a working paper mill situated in Apsley, Hertfordshire, near Hemel Hempstead. The mill is on an island in the River Gade, [1] which forms part of the Grand Union Canal. [2] It is the oldest mechanical paper mill in the world. [3] [4]
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. [5] In 1289, the mill was used for fulling; removing oil and other impurities from woolen cloth. [2] It returned to milling grain, then became a fulling mill once more, then finally it had become a paper mill by 1774. [5] 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. [5] [6] [7]
For most of the 19th century, the mill was owned by the Grand Junction Canal, predecessor of the Grand Union Canal. [2] In 1851, the chemical production of paper from wood (now known as soda pulp), used in newspapers, began at the mill. [5] From 1853 to 1887 the mill was linked to Two Waters Mill, also near Hemel Hempstead. [5] [8] In 1890, the British Paper Company was founded and took over operations at the mill; it fully purchased the premises in 1929. [2]
In 2000 the British Paper Company ceased operations and the Apsley Paper Trail was opened to the public. [9]
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. [10]
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. [11] It has been used for various theatrical productions, including the rock musical Rent . [3] [12]
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south and Buckinghamshire to the west. The largest settlement is Watford, and the county town is Hertford.
Hemel Hempstead is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located 24 miles (39 km) north-west of London; nearby towns include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 census was 95,961.
The pulp and paper industry comprises companies that use wood, specifically pulpwood, as raw material and produce pulp, paper, paperboard, and other cellulose-based products.
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 important centre for papermaking. Today it is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead.
Dacorum is a local government district with borough status in Hertfordshire, England. The council is based in Hemel Hempstead. The borough also includes the towns of Berkhamsted and Tring and surrounding villages. The borough had a population of 155,081 in 2021. Dacorum was created in 1974 and is named after the ancient hundred of Dacorum which had covered a similar area. The borough of Dacorum is the westernmost of Hertfordshire's ten districts. It borders St Albans, Three Rivers, Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire.
Nash Mills is a civil parish within Hemel Hempstead and Dacorum Borough Council on the northern side of the Grand Union Canal, formerly the River Gade, and in the southernmost corner of Hemel Hempstead. There is evidence of a mill in this location since the 11th century and the row of 16th century mill cottages still remain. John Dickinson established a number of papermaking mills in the area in the 19th century.
Longdean School is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in the southeast of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The academy specialises in Maths and Computing.
Hemel Hempstead Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Affiliated to the Hertfordshire County Football Association, they are currently members of the National League South and play at Vauxhall Road.
Hemel Hempstead is a constituency in Hertfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system. Since 2024, it has been represented by David Taylor of the Labour Party.
Apsley railway station is in Apsley, on the southern outskirts of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. One of two railway stations now serving the town, the other is Hemel Hempstead just up the line in Boxmoor.
Hemel Hempstead railway station lies in Boxmoor, on the western edge of the town of Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. It is located 24+1⁄2 miles (39.4 km) north-west of London Euston on the West Coast Main Line. The station is managed by London Northwestern Railway, who operate its train services along with Southern.
Nash Mill was a paper mill near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The local residential area takes its name from the mill.
John Dickinson Stationery Limited was a leading English stationery company founded in southwest Hertfordshire. In the 19th century, the company pioneered a number of innovations in papermaking. It became part of Dickinson Robinson Group in 1966; after changes of ownership, the John Dickinson brand was retired in 2008.
The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watford through Cassiobury Park. After passing Croxley Green it reaches Rickmansworth, where it joins the River Colne. For its whole course the Gade is unnavigable.
Boxmoor is part of Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire. It is within the district of Dacorum and comprises mainly 19th-century housing and meadowland, with transport links from London to the Midlands. At the 2011 Census, the population of Boxmoor was included in the Dacorum ward of Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield.
This article gives brief information on schools that cater for pupils up to the age of 11 in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire, England. Most are county maintained primary schools, sometimes known as "junior mixed infant" (JMI). A small number are voluntary aided church schools or independent (fee-paying). The Local Education Authority is Hertfordshire County Council.
Frogmore is a village 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Radlett in Hertfordshire, and 2 miles (3.2 km) south of St Albans city centre. It is located in St Stephen civil parish, within the City and District of St Albans, and the county of Hertfordshire.
Sealy Fourdrinier was an English paper-making entrepreneur.
Apsley Marina, also referred to as Apsley Lock Marina, is a basin used for mooring narrowboats on the east side of the Grand Union Canal at Apsley, Hertfordshire, England.
Apsley Mill was a paper mill at Apsley, near Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom.
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