October 2023

14 Buckden Roundabout October 2023 St Neots Paper Mill The St Neots Paper Mill By Richard Storey, Chairman/Secretary of the Buckden Local History Society. There have been river mills on this site since the time of the Domesday Book but the site of the paper mill at Little Paxton is almost certainly that of Okestubbe Mill, the medieval corn - grinding mill belonging to the monks from St Neots Priory. In 1799 the mill was acquired by Ousley Rowley, who was build- ing up his St Neots estate, rebuilt and let to Mr Hobson of Eaton Socon. In 1804 the mill was leased to a firm of paper - makers, Henry and Sealy Fourdinier and John Gamble. Henry had invented a new machine that would revolutionise the industry by making a long continuous web of paper. The new machine had the dual advantage of consider- ably higher productivity plus production in roll form, for applications such as wallpa- per printing. A patent for the new machine was granted on 24 July 1806. However, the re- search and installation costs were extremely expensive. With the first machine costing £60,000, the Fourdiniers could only fund this amount with a mortgage, which was taken out with Mathew Toogood, a London banker. The advantages of the new machine were so great that rivals soon acquired copies and were able to undercut the Four- diniers. Despite the patents they proved not to be water - tight and the brothers, heavy in debt, went into bankruptcy. Too- good, now owning the lease of the mill and all its equipment in return for his loan, decided to run the mill for himself. Despite knowing little or nothing about paper making, Too- good employed experienced paper makers and, through sound business practices, was soon returning a good profit. In 1823 the great flood raised the river 11 feet above the normal level resulting in the machinery disappearing under 5 feet of water and 4 men being trapped inside the mill for 4 days before be- ing rescued. Toogood died in 1830 and the business was taken over by his 3 sons. During their management of the mill the Toogoods made some considerable improvements including the introduction of steam power units in 1851 and then again in 1861, which removed their dependency on the uncertain water power. Sixty years of Toogood prosperity was an important factor in the growth and well being of St Neots. The mill employed a large and varied labour force, including skilled paper - makers and women as rag - pickers. Such was the demand for quality paper that night shift working was common. It was sometime during this period that the ‘ traps ’ was installed at the mill. Built primarily to enable the mill workers to get to work, it was a raised wooden pedestrian walkway which allowed access when the road was flooded. We can only imagine the dis- tress when in 1887 the mill as one of the main employers of the town closed, coming in the same year as the closure of the Vulcan Iron Works when the Works ’ owner George Bower filed for bankruptcy. There is no record of why the mill closed but it must have been seen as a going concern because a con- sortium of local business people (John McNish of Paine ’ s Brew- ery, Joseph Wilcox, W. Emery, James Paine and W. Bowyer) decided to reopen in 1888 as the St Neots Paper Mill Company Limited. In an act of great benevolence the consortium took no money from the business until it became profitable again. By the turn of the 20th century it was clear that the business would suffer without serious investment, and In 1903 the ob- solete steam - powered machinery was replaced by new tur- bines. All was going well at the mill until 1912 when a major fire destroyed many of the old wooden buildings. Undeterred, the mill was soon rebuilt using brick and new equipment in- stalled. This increase in efficiency and effectiveness brought with it a safer working environment and considerably more profit. By 1913 the mill was producing the finest grades of bank, writing, ledger, drawing, chart, cartridge, typing, loan and envelope papers. Unfortunately, the mill ’ s fortunes were short lived owing to the economic depression of the 1920s and the mill closed in 1939. The Second World War, however, brought with it some unexpected benefits: the paper mill at Dover had to be evacu- ated, and the paper manufacturers and merchants Wiggins, Teape and Co acquired the site and relocated to Little Paxton. After the war the new owners took immediate advantage of the hole in the paper exporting market left by Japan and ex- panded rapidly. Unfortunately, this did not include the Little (Continued on page 20) Rag Room workers at the paper mill in 1902 Paper mill 1907. The inlet for the water which pow- ered the stampers that beat the rag and other fibres into a pulp. In the background are the drying sheds. Paper mill and the common, date not known