Paper Mill
The mill was purchased in 1811 by John Dickinson. It had been converted to papermaking by A. Blackwell at the end of the eighteenth century and was a half mile from Dickinson's original Apsley Mill on the Grand Junction Canal. The mill-house, called Nash House, became the family home for Dickinson and his new wife Ann (née Grover) whose father Harry Grover supported this business development through his Grover's Bank. In a very few years Nash Mill was renowned for its production of tough thin paper for Samuel Bagster's "Pocket Reference Bible".
A major fire in 1813 was a setback, but, being covered by insurance, enabled redevelopment towards large scale production and by 1825 steam power had been installed, powered by coal delivered by canal. John Dickinson & Co. Ltd had their Engineering Department at Nash Mills until 1888 (managed by Leonard Stephenson), when it was transferred to Apsley Mill. The production of fine rag paper on electrically driven machines was a successful innovation at Nash.
There was unrest amongst the workers in 1821 when pay was cut in response to declining trade. Local leaders of the Society of Papermakers were dismissed and replaced by recruits from Abbots Langley. The dismissed workers and their families, living in tied cottages, suffered distress and some "went on the parish". After some disruption and even sabotage, the situation calmed.
In 1823 and in 1826, there were repeated mechanical problems. The mill maintained its own fire brigade with steam fire engine.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Nash Mill, which was small and had a reputation for independence, experienced a drop in profitability. Continuous minor changes were implemented until, in 1926 it underwent improvements with expansion, remodelling and refurbishment.
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Famous quotes containing the words paper and/or mill:
“Once, when lying in bed with no paper at hand, he began to sketch the idea for a new machine on the back of his wife’s nightgown. He asked her if she knew the figure he was drawing. “Yes,” she answered, “the figure of a fool.””
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“—First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill,—
And the parson was sitting up on a rock,
At half-past nine by the meet’n’-house clock,—
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!
MWhat do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894)