Shoreham Paper Mill
The first documentary evidence of a Paper Mill in Shoreham was in 1692, when the owner Henry Polhill granted Alexander Russell a lease to the Mill. It would have been a corn and fulling mill before then. By 1719 excellent white paper was being made at the mills along the Darent, whose pure clear water made it ideal for papermaking. In 1737 the Mill was insured by William Wilmott, the first in a long line of Wilmot papermakers which ended in 1921. William became a wealthy man who owned several other freeholds and leases of public houses, farms and mills, including the Mill at Sundridge. By 1746 William had installed the new Hollander Beater engine with its angled knives that beat the rags to break down the fibres. Kentish mills made high quality paper which was important to London stationers and booksellers.
Thomas Wilmott (1749-1812) was a Master Paper Maker and acquired the freehold of the Mill some time after 1800. The wars with France cut off the supply of raw materials from the Continent, and import duty was imposed on rags. Premiums of 20 guineas were offered for 10 reams of paper made from vegetable substances, and Thomas was awarded a premium for paper made from jute. Thomas took his own life and was followed by his son Henry who went bankrupt. Bankruptcies were all too common.
Thomas Wilmott (1749-1812) was a Master Paper Maker and acquired the freehold of the Mill some time after 1800. The wars with France cut off the supply of raw materials from the Continent, and import duty was imposed on rags. Premiums of 20 guineas were offered for 10 reams of paper made from vegetable substances, and Thomas was awarded a premium for paper made from jute. Thomas took his own life and was followed by his son Henry who went bankrupt. Bankruptcies were all too common.
In the early 1800s, brothers Charles and George Wilmott ran the Mills at Shoreham and Sundridge, taking it in turns to vote at Parliamentary elections and monopolize the office of Churchwarden. In 1841 George’s son, also George Wilmot but with only one ‘t’, took over and ran the Mill for the next 60 years. The Mill produced ‘Superfine Writing and Drawing Papers’ and supplied government departments with handmade paper for ledgers.
By 1885 there were three vats at the Mill. The 1851 census shows that 58 workers were employed at the Shoreham Mill, 15 men, 29 women, 13 boys and a girl. The wages for a 10-hour day were 6/1d for vatmen, 5/10d for couchers and 5s for dry workers. The profits of the Mill improved after Excise duty was reduced in 1837, and even more when the railway came to Shoreham in 1862. George had a sideline built to the railway from the Mill which can still be seen as a raised path across the water meadows.
Mrs Annie De Decker spent many years working there. She said that the River Darent supplied all the water and power necessary to produce the paper but the overhead lighting was so poor they had to rely on natural daylight to see to do their work. They were often sent home without pay when the natural daylight was overcast. The rate of pay was 1-3/4d to 2d per hour and if you took home 10/- at the end of the week you were lucky.
The Mill was closed during the first world war, and although it re-opened in 1920, it could no longer compete with the new large machine-operated mills. It passed out of the Wilmot hands in 1921 and finally closed in 1928, ending over 330 years of making fine handmade paper. The “G WILMOT” countermark passed to Portals in Hampshire, which continued to make high quality paper for banknotes. The outbuildings were demolished in 1936 and the Mill House was sold as a private house.
The mill during demolition, 1936
You can read more about The Paper Mill in Historical Society Publication No 20, "Paper Makers in Shoreham 1690-1921 - The History of the Wilmots".