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Thursday 23 October 2014

History of St Cuthberts Mill,
Wells, Somerset.

1736 Hand made paper production started on the St Cuthberts site under the name Lower Wookey Mill.

1835 First paper making machine installed.

1850 Present frontage of the mill is built using local stone.

1862 The mill is named Mendip Mill after the local hills.

1887 The mill is renamed again to St Cuthberts Mill, after the Parish of the local church in which the mill resides.

1897 Office building built.

1899 Somerset watermark first used for writing paper.

1907 Cylinder mould machine (still used today to make artists papers) originally built.

1931 St Cuthberts Mill is bought by Inveresk.

1950 Inveresk bought nearby Wookey Hole Mill (first established in 1425.)

1952 Cylinder mould machine installed at Wookey Hole.

1954 PM1 Fourdrinier machine installed.

1957 ‘Melamon’ Resin loaded board first developed at Wookey Hole Mill.

1959 Wookey Hole purchases the rights to produce TH Saunders (originally developed in 1920.)

1972 Wookey Hole Mill now sold (now a tourist attraction.) The mould machine transferred to St Cuthberts Mill. Watercolour paper production now solely made at St Cuthberts Mill (including handmade which continued until 1976.)

1975 Bockingford rights purchased from Whatman.

1976 Somerset traditional printmaking paper developed and launched.

1981 Inveresk including St Cuthberts Mill is sold to Georgia Pacific and becomes GP Inveresk.

1985 TH Saunders developed to improve the surface strength of the paper and re-named Saunders Waterford.

1990 Inveresk is sold by Georgia Pacific to the Inveresk management, in a management buyout.

1991 £3 million investment in PM1 machine for preimpregnated decorative papers.

1993 Inveresk floated on the stock exchange.

1999 Fine Art inkjet papers developed and Somerset Enhanced launched.

2002 Bockingford inkjet launched.

2007 Somerset Photo launched.

2009 Saunders Waterford High White paper launched.

2010 St Cuthberts Mill Ltd created.

2013 Bockingford Hot Press and Rough, spirals and pads launched.

2014 Bockingford Blocks launched.




Thursday 16 October 2014

Visitors Day 15/10/14

Yesterday was another successful day giving a tour to RK Burt & Co, retailers and artists around St Cuthberts Mill. Thanks to everyone who came along!

That's the last one for this year, but more are being organised for 2015! Below are a few of the fab photos from yesterdays visit.



Pulp!


Dom Cooper, one of our Papermakers with visitors


Tour of Papermaking machine


Tour of Paper machine


More great photos can be found at http://patchingsgalleries.co.uk/blog/?p=98


http://www.rkburt.com/

Wednesday 8 October 2014



Saunders Waterford Giveaway - Winners!

We are pleased to announce the winners of our recent Facebook 'Saunders Waterford' Giveaway!

Congratulations! 
The winners are:

1. Jelena Krilova
2. Ann Whitelock
3. Ellie Oliver
4. Dana Mallon
5. Kathryn Coyle

Congratulations again and your prize (Saunders Waterford HP block) will be with you shortly!







Wednesday 1 October 2014

Sculpture by Sam Moulsdale

Sculpture by Sam Moulsdale at Quarter Jack pub in Wells, Somerset

If you visit 'The Quarter Jack' pub in Wells, Somerset, look out for this amazing sculpture by Sam Moulsdale. The details below are inscribed next to this impressive piece that was created using St Cuthberts Mill papers!


"The original paper sculpture was commissioned by JD Wetherspoon and includes the lines from a poem entitled “Mendip Hills over Wells” by Henry Alford. Alford was born in Somerset in 1810. In 1853 he moved to London and then onto the Cathedral at Canterbury where he was made Dean in 1857, he died in 1871.

The sculpture by Sam Moulsdale is made from paper manufactured at St Cuthberts Mill, Wells. The inspiration for this piece and the materials used share their origins with the vast and captivating landscape of the Mendip Hills. Drawing from the atmospheric light, the undulating horizons and the rugged nature of the weather, the suggestion of these elements are juxtaposed, producing a sense of the constantly changing nature of the view.


Detail from the sculpture by Sam Moulsdale


The key material, taken from nature itself, is hand worked at the Local St Cuthberts Paper Mill, located in the small hamlet of Haybridge outside the Cathedral City of Wells. When ripped and torn it provides a subtlety of interpretation that closely echoes the rough shapes, promontories and undulations of the hills. The organic material is a metaphor for the organic landscape. The weaving, floating and overlaying implying dynamism of perpetual atmospheric change.

St Cuthberts Mill history began around 1738 when it was known as “Kingston’s Mill” and was owned by Rev Robert Kingston. In 1742 the mill was described as Lower Wookey Mill and in 1786 was leased to Joseph Coles who in 1797 recorded the first Joseph Coles watermarks.

In 1886 the name was changed to St Cuthberts Mill and four years later £38,000 was spent on expanding buildings (to present frontage – the “Buckingham Palace” of paper mills.) The following year St Cuthberts stock papers were marked with a lion but lobbying of the company persuaded them to change the watermark to the City of Wells shield from 1897. In this same year the landmark new chimney was constructed from 300,000 specially made bricks.


Chimney at St Cuthberts Mill

In 1907 the new No.2 machine, the 86” Bertram was installed and is still in use today. In 1973 St Cuthberts Mill sold the Wookey Hole Mill site to Madam Tussauds."



http://www.inngear.co.uk/intro.htm
http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-quarter-jack