About the year 1777, a man called
Ingram Horne took over or established a paper mill
at
Buckland. Within the
next 20 years the mill was burnt down and rebuilt,
and Edward Hasted, writing in 1790, reported that
the mill had been recently much enlarged. The mill
had a number of different owners until 1846, when
it was closed down.
In 1849, Charles Ashdown bought and re-opened the
mill. With his two sons, Charles and Henry, he carried
on the business until September 1879, when ownership
passed to a partnership of Charles Ashdown Jnr and
Henry Hobday. The new partners greatly improved the
machinery but in September 1887, the mill was totally
destroyed by fire. The rebuilding that followed altered
the character of the mill greatly. The early days
of the mill were on a comparatively small scale, and
prior 1879 the output never exceeded two tons per
week but within a year of the fire the mill was producing
twelve tons per week.
To help the mill get back on its feet after the fire,
Henry Hobday secured the order to make ‘Conqueror’,
watermarked business stationery, from London paper
merchants Wiggins Teape, in 1888. ‘Conqueror’ was
an immediate success, being perceived as much superior
to existing business stationery. So, to ensure continuity
of supply, Wiggins Teape bought Buckland Mill in 1890.
Henry Hobday became the manager of the factory.
Almost immediately the new owners started to invest
in the mill’s expansion. No.2 paper machine, capable
of making paper up to 70 inches wide, was installed
in 1893 and increased weekly capacity to around 40
tons. By 1895 the mill’s annual output was 800 tons
and rose steadily to 2,300 tons in 1910. The demand
for ‘Conqueror’ papers was increasing and in 1910
No.3 machine was built, bringing production up to
around 70 tons per week. 90 years later No3 machine
was producing paper at the rate of over 2 tons per
hour.
