Shropshire Routes to Roots

5d. Consumer manufacturing: Local Industries (2)

Paper Making

This is not an industry that immediately springs to mind in relation to Shropshire, but with the rise in literacy, paper-making centres sprang up in the 18th century, wherever there was plentiful supply of water. Remnants of the trade can still be seen in place names such as Paper Mill Bridge (Lee Brockhurst)and Paper Mill Cottage (Cound).

Many of the mills were sited wherever the water ran fast and regularly, which was in the hilly areas such as Cleobury Mortimer, Cressage, Shifnal, Alverley and Oswestry. In other areas the diversion or damming of a placid stream created the necessary flow, as in the idyllic scene at Longnor mill alongside.

Longnor Paper Mill Larger image, in a new window [36kb] [Reproduced with kind permission of Shropshire Newspapers]

The paper was made mainly from rags, which also gave employment to the 'Rag collectors' who scoured the county for material.

Different areas produced different papers. Good class, white writing paper came from Claverley and Ludlow, while brown paper for wrapping was made at Hopton Wafers and Oswestry. If you needed a strong sugar bag, you went to Tibberton, while paste boards and cardboards were made in Market Drayton.

Horsehair Cloth

In the middle of the 19th century, Market Drayton possessed three horsehair weaving factories employing around 200 people. The cloth was used for covering upholstery and was very hard wearing. The hair from the horse's mane was preferred as it was the longest and softest. The length of the hair determined the width of the cloth, which it was bonded with linen or cotton thread. By 1885, there was only one factory left, run by John Haslam in Shropshire Street, producing hair sieves. The importation of cotton from the Americas had changed the upholstery business out of all recognition, and this last horsehair weaving factory closed in the early 1890's.