|
Whitelee Mill
Wincle Grange was founded around 1400 on the Cheshire
or northern bank of the River Dane by the monks of Combermere
near Nantwich. It is likely that the Grange had a watermill
but the only evidence is from much later when an agreement
was made between the monks of Dieu la Cresse and the
monks of Crokenden that the mill near Gighall, turned
by the waters of the river Dane, should be exempt from
tithes. Gig Hall is the name used for the property on
the Staffordshire side of the river adjacent to Whitlee
Farm, which is in Wincle parish on the Cheshire bank.
A gig mill is another name for a walk or fulling mill
so the name Gig Hall might imply that the nearby mill
was a fulling mill.
Nothing further is known about the fulling mill until
the early part of the 18th century when a millwright
called Abraham Bennett who lived in Gurnett near Macclesfield
was commissioned to build a paper mill. At the time
James Brindley, who was to become a well known canal
engineer, was an apprentice of Bennett and his involvement
in the building of the paper mill has become a well
known story. It seems that Bennett had travelled to
see an “engine paper mill” and
was now attempting to copy it, thereby making his mill
the first of its kind in the area. However, a travelling
millwright informed the ‘local neighbourhood’
that Bennett was throwing his employers’ money
away, and could not complete what he had undertaken.
On hearing this young James Brindley resolved to view
the mill that was being copied. So after working all
day one Saturday, he set out that evening to walk the
fifty miles to view the mill and returned in time to
start his work Monday morning. He then informed Bennett
where “he was deficient” and completed
the engine to the satisfaction of the proprietors as
well as making “considerable improvements
in the press-paper”.
From the description it would seem that they were building
a paper mill that was probably based on the use of a
machine called a Hollander to prepare rags instead of
the previously used stamps. The Hollander was being
introduced into the British paper making industry at
this time and was somewhat like a bathtub that had a
drum with ridges or spikes inside. Rags and water were
placed in the Hollander and it was rotated with the
power of a waterwheel pulverising the rags into pulp.
Whitelee Mill certainly operated throughout the rest
of the 18th century as various paper makers appear in
local parish registers from time to time
In the early 19th century the Trent and Mersey Canal
Company were proposing to build a water supply feeder
from the river Dane to their reservoir known as Rudyard
Lake. It was originally intended that the water should
be diverted upstream from Whitelee Mill on the northern
bank of the river. The leat would run past the mill,
cross the river by means of an aqueduct before heading
along the southern side of the valley to Rudyard. However,
there must have been a conflict with the owners of the
mill because the leat was started from a new weir downstream
from mill. This was not successful as it was virtually
level. Following a scathing report by John Rennie on
the work an Act of Parliament in 1821 granted the necessary
authority for remedial work. In 1824 the leat was extended
upstream to the paper mill weir where it was allowed
to collect any flood water over six inches above the
normal weir height. By 1834 the mill was becoming obsolescent
due new technology, so the owners entered into an agreement
with the Trent and Mersey Canal Company to transfer
the water rights to the canal company with the understanding
that the mill would be pulled down after the implementation
of the agreement. However, when the first edition of
the Ordnance Survey was issued in 1842 it was still
described as an “old mill”. Also,
in 1860, it was stated that “The ruins of
Whitelee paper mills are situated about one mile south
west from the Ship Inn”. So although the
mill ceased to operate after 1834 it was not demolished
as planned, but simply allowed to fall down.
Today there is no evidence of the Whitelee Paper Mill
to be seen except the weir across the Dane and a channel
where the headrace and wheelpit must have been. The
original Dane Feeder weir is still in existence just
downstream of the paper mill weir with the entension
leat running in the river bed between the two weirs.
Unfortunately, the central part of the paper mill weir
was washed away during heavy floods in 1998 after more
than 260 years service. This weir has now been rebuilt
by British Waterways at a cost of about £ 0.5
million.
| TOP OF PAGE
Folly Mill
The Clough Brook runs in a north – south direction
for about five miles until it joins the River Dane on
its north bank about a mile above Danebridge. In the
last third of a mile the river flows through a steep
sided and wooded gorge. About half way along the wooded
gorgr at a place called Gideon (or Gibbon’s) Cliff,
is the site of Folly Mill which was formerly used to
manufacture paper.
When Folly Mill was built is not known. It does not
appear on an estate map of the area in 1774. A local
historian James Thornley stated in 1923 that he believed
the mill to have been built by Abraham Day of Allmeadow
Farm, possibly about 1780 or 1790. James Thornley claimed
that it was called Folly Mill because two previous attempts
at building a mill had ended with the mill being washed
away by floods, hence it was thought folly to attempt
to build a third.
If the mill was built at the end of the 18th century
it would have been used to make paper by hand with waterpower
used to drive a Hollander. Rags were the only raw material
capable of being used to make paper prior to the middle
of the 19th century.. In the 18th and 19th centuries
the manufacture of paper was subject to a complicated
taxing structure which involved the close attention
of the Excise collectors. So much so that exisemen lived
permanently at the site of Folly Mill. Bosley Parish
register shows an entry in 1820 for the baptism of two
sons of Jenkin Jones, an exciseman of Wincle. The excise
records for 1816 show that Thomas Hope was the master
paper maker at both Folly Mill and Whitelee Mill in
Wincle, although it is not known whether he was owner
of this property or a tenant of Abraham Day. In 1835
Abraham Day died in his 95th year, but Thomas Hope and
subsequent members of the Hope family continued to operate
Folly Mill until 1860 when records show that ownership
had changed to John and Matthias Slack. However, by
this time paper making had become a fully mechanised
continuous process using machines invented by the Fourdrinier
brothers in Staffordshire and the hand made process
used at Folly Mill became uncompetitive. Folly Mill
continued to operate until 1867, but in 1868 it was
listed as “not in work” and in
1869 as “unoccupied”. In 1923 James
Thornley claimed he had visited the mill in his youth
when it had still been working and had been producing
coarse brown paper and blue glazed paper as used by
grocers and ironmongers for wrapping.
Extracts and information from “DRIVEN
BY THE DANE”
With the kind permission of the author – Tony
Bonson
ISBN 0 9517794 4 3
Published by The Midland Wind and Water Mills Group
14 Falmouth Road, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 3BH
| TOP OF PAGE
|
