There have been Paper Mills in Darwen since the 1820s. This began at Darwen Old Paper Mill in around 1826 as a small-scale, family-run concern. Richard Hilton began making paper as an expansion of his bleaching business. He and his sons later diversified into making different types of paper including tissue and [1] wallpaper lining papers in the 1830s. Papermaking required huge amounts of water and was usually supplied by local rivers and reservoirs. Darwen’s location and climate made it ideal territory for making paper, just as it was ideal for the textile industry. In the case of Darwen Old Paper Mill for example, the River Darwen and Jack’s Key Reservoir would have supplied water.

Papermaking is a fairly labour intensive process with many different processes. Associated trades sprang up in Darwen including bleaching and dyeing works and [1] wallpaper making. There were mills in Darwen that made [1] wallpaper, indeed there still are but the mills in Darwen also made other types of paper. Mills produced paper such as newsprint, tissue, coloured and enamel papers, linings, brown paper and [1] wallpaper base paper. The raw materials required for papermaking were originally rags and esparto (a rough grass from Spain and North Africa needed to make fine quality paper). Today papers are mostly made from either wood pulp or synthetic pulp. Only very fine ‘hand-made’ papers are today made from rags. Collins Paper Mill in Darwen mainly produced brown paper made from rags whilst Grimshaw Bridge Paper Mill produced cap and biscuit papers. Mills then were powered mainly by water wheels and horizontal engines.

Many people were employed in the paper making industry. Hollins Paper Mill employed over 250 people. It was considered to be one of Darwen’s staple trades and even today people in Darwen are still employed to make paper and [5] wallcoverings for the rest of the world.

However, this article is slightly out of date as there are now houses were the great [1] wallpaper mill once stood.

The image/text was provided by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council for use in the Cotton Town digitisation project: www.cottontown.org.