Buckland Mill in the late 1940s.
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.
