St Cuthberts Mill

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.