1066 –1732… Before Paper was made In the Doomsday Book there is a mention of there being 5 Mills of Wind and Water in the Parish of Chartham. The Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral owned the present site and much of Chartham.
1350 A Woollen Mill stood on the site of the present Paper Mill.
1537 to 1732 The mill was leased as a “Fulling Mill” (cleaning rags) to twelve different people. The same annual rent was charged for over 300 years. (£3 6s 8d)
1665 Paper was being made at Barton Mill Sturry Road Canterbury but had no links with Chartham Mill.
1732-1738… Hand made paper Peter Archer a Papermaker from Sittingbourne had been visiting The daughter of the owner of Barton Mill and decided to lease Chartham Mill for Papermaking.
1732 The Cathedral Archives show that on 27th November 1732 as: “The late Fulling Mill now a Paper mill in Chartham”
1733 Insured with the Sun Insurance Company as a Paper mill.
1737 Peter Archer Died.
1738 The Mill was advertised for Sale.
1738 –1798 There were at least 6 owners through death or insolvency. There were several links with mills in South Buckinghamshire a well-known area for Papermaking at the time.
1763 The Lease of the mills was held by William Pearson, when he died about 2 years later he left a widow and two sons, Thomas and James, the latter shortly afterwards became bankrupt and the former assigned the interests to David Ogilvy.
1792 David Ogilvy and Thomas Pearson sold their interest to Edward Paine who was described as “papermaker of Chartham”, Paine was in partnership with a man called Pike
1798 The mill went up for sale again, this time by auction.
1798-1818 A gentleman called George Pike with various partners (mainly financial) bought the mill.
1803 The “Kentish Master Paper Makers Agreement” was made, chaired by William Balston, this was the first labour agreement to be made in the country at this time.
1818-1870 The Weatherley Family 1818 Automation Begins The mill was sold for £4,000 to William Weatherley and John Lane, both Papermakers from Dartford, after 4 years Weatherley bought Lane’s share. The mill was still a 2 VAT mill, making about 1 ton of hand made paper a week.
1850 Bryan Donkin a renowned engineer who was interested in Automation of Papermaking installed a 66-inch wide Fourdrinier Machine in the mill one of the first of its type in the country. Production jumped to about 5 tons a week and the mill now employed about 160 employees. On Sunday 22nd December fire destroyed the mill, all employees were out of work. (said to be on the parish). All was not lost and the machine was rebuilt the following year.
1852 William Weatherley died. and the mill passed to his nephew, also William. His lavish spending and lifestyle led to financial difficulties and his Father-in-law came to the rescue. To reduce costs the number of workers in the mill was lowered, at this time they also started to experiment with straw mixed with rags.
1857 Reported in Kentish Gazette on Tuesday 9th June. “At the 6am shift change on the 3rd June a fire was found in the Drying Room, this spread to 20 tons of straw. Arson was suspected. A delay in the fire service attending from Canterbury was due to lack of horses, most was engaged in Wye Races”. All the buildings were destroyed. The insurance would not cover the rebuild and the mill closed for almost a year.
1858 Money was found to rebuild the machine again by Bryan Donkin. A Water Turbine was installed, to do this the riverbed had to be lowered by 3 metres; this caused great concern by water users situated below the mill. (Horton Manor) New Mill House was built (The Grange).
1859 A new air dryer was installed built by Drury and Biggleston of Canterbury, known As “Weatherley’s Air Dryer”. The air drier was built by Drury and Biggleston, Canterbury, it had:- 39 Drums 4ft dia all with fans. Driven in 5 vertical sections, 2 of 9 drums and 3 of 7 drums Two tiers of steam pipes below floor level They aimed to keep the room temperature at 80ºf
1860 Freehold bought for £3,500 from the Dean and Chapter.
1862 Chartham Paper Mills Co Ltd Formed. William Weatherley Jnr and Charles Drew partners. The mill was now valued at £20,000 but mortgages totalled £13,650. Output was now at 8-10 Tons a week.
1871-1911 The Howards 1871 Chartham Paper Mills Co Ltd went into liquidation. William Howard a highly successful business man living in Canterbury (Tower House in Westgate Gardens) bought the mill for £28,750, part on Mortgage and Materials. He was 66 years old and owned paper mills in Russia.
1872 A shortage of rags caused the mill to shut for 3-4 weeks. Mr Howard bought Tower house, near Canterbury Westgate…. the house is now the Mayor’s parlour and grounds now Westgate gardens.
1873 Howard paid off the Mortgage as Government contracts were secured. Installed new drying cylinders and output increased to 20 tons per week.
1873-81 Production continued to be around 20 tons per week, profit over this period was in the region of £5,000 per annum.
1882 Due to a continuing shortage of rags bought land near Canterbury West Station and in 1883 built a Rag-house (Still there today) made an agreement for sidings with S.E. Railways, rags brought up from Whitstable and Herne Bay on the “Crab and Winkle Line”. Large stocks of rags built up.
1884 Younger son John taken into partnership. The company now Called “William Howard and Son” the name was retained until 1968.
1888 1st June William Howard died in Nice aged 84. At 25 years of age John took over the business, he was supported by Charles Drew, Business Manager for 30 years and George Holloway Mill Manager for 20 Years. John became a major in the Royal East Kent’s, served in South African War. M.P. for Faversham 1900-1906. Contested Canterbury seat in 1910 but lost. Died 5th Sept 1911 aged 48.
1902 Charles Drew Retired and Harry Cremer (nephew of George Holloway) takes over as Business and Mill Manager.
1902-06 The machine is completely overhauled, two new turbines installed, new steam boilers installed, 2 new wells bored, 100ft Deep
1912-1948 The Cremers 1912 Thebusiness operated for 1year by John Howard’s Executors. A Private company was formed, William Howard and Son Ltd. Harry Cremer was retained as Mill Manager. The product range extended to include…. Tub sized writings and account book papers, drawing and cartridge, envelope papers, pastings, typewriter papers.
1920’s Further additions included….. watermarked stamp papers, detail papers, lampshade parchment, some banknote papers for portals.
1926 Harry Cremer died and his younger son Leslie Cremer takes over (his elder son George was manager of Hamstead (Roughway) mill in west Kent).
1929 Portals (Bank Note manufacturers) buy 51% of Mill but sell It within a year.
1930 Wiggins Teape buy Chartham mill and decide to keep the Howard name (Until 1968), Cremer was retained as mill manager
1932 Too much starch in Lampshade Parchment produced a Translucent Paper.
By 1938 80% Starch Mix Tracing paper was being marketed.
1939-45 British Armaments all designed on Chartham Tracing Paper. Canterbury Blitzed, but Chartham mill not touched.
1946 New Tracing Mill planned after B.O.I.S. report on German Tracing Mills.
1948 Bryan Donkin’s machine removed aged 98 years. Weatherley’s Air Dryer retained now 90 years old.
1949 Modern Era of Tracing Paper. 1949 No 1 Machine was rebuilt to specifically manufacture natural tracing (the only specialised mill of its type in the UK) using a woodpulp furnish although cotton pulp (not rag based) was also used for specific grades with the inclusion of three large M.G. cylinders in the drying section. The major features of the product were its uniformity and overall translucency which required an extreme control of it’s cleanliness and freedom from dirt specks which in turn required a very high ratio in terms of water to finished tonnes of paper. PM1 – (Bently Jackson), 72″ finished width on natural tracings, shrinkage 20 – 25%. MG’s no real help, size bath after 2nd MG not usable and had to use the old air dryer. Product was widely accepted and orders quickly built up.
1954 New size bath at reel up position, the machine was lengthened with 6 after dryers. Weatherley’s Air Dryer finally removed aged 95 years. New dryers installed.
1960 Demand overtakes production. No 2 Machine sanctioned by Wiggins Teape.
1962 No 2 Machine installed alongside No 1 Machine. (Bertrams 60″)m wide. Finishing Department was moved across the River. New Boiler House changed from coal to oil New jobs created.
1962 In 1962 the growth of the specialised translucent paper market necessitated, installation of No.2 paper machine alongside No.1 paper machine and the repositioning of the powerhouse that was now fuelled by oil and gas. The water turbine was removed and electrical requirements were supplied from a steam turbine supplemented with power from the National Grid. To minimise discharges of fibre to the river an effluent plant was installed consisting of a primary settling tank that discharged water to four clinker filled filtration beds and then to a final settling tank before final discharge to the river. The sludge from the settling tank was pumped to one of three concrete lined drying beds.
1962-70 Rapid increase in export orders, especially Japan. 6-month lead-time.
1972 PM3 was sanctioned by Wiggins Teape on the strength of this growth, it was to have an output equal to or greater than the combined output of Nos. 1 & 2 paper machines The site of the machine was to the south west, relative to the established site area, on wet meadow land. The footprint of the machine house, office block, chemical and pulp store buildings together with the road extension necessitated the infilling of the land with hard core including waste from the Kent coal fields.. No 3 Machine was installed at the far end of the Finishing Department. 2.7m wide. No other machine in the world wider for Making Tracing…. it started up on schedule and was making saleable paper after 4 days New jobs created. Total number of employees now around 450. Mill output around 240 tons week.
1972-88 Success in USA with new opaque products made on No2 Machine, Tracing Paper success follows.
1988 Jan 4th Wiggins Teape sell the mill to James River USA. 250th Anniversary of Chartham Mill
1993 CHP Installation – With a view to improve the energy efficiency of the Mill the Power plant was rebuilt as a 6 MegaWatt Combined Heat and Power plant in 1993-1994. This made the Mill self sufficient in regard to steam and electrical requirements.
1991-94 Three management buy-outs. Signs of Tracing Decline due to new technologies. (CAD and Inkjet)
1994-2000 Rexam USA own mill. Sanction new Heat and Power Plant, self sufficient on electricity. Business declining as no focus on selling Tracing Paper. Mill starting to reduce employee numbers to 252. End of 1998 new market opens up for Tracing Paper. (Graphic Arts) Fashionable products now made in 16 colours for Interleaves and High Class Printing.
2000 ArjoWiggins buy back the mill on 23rd June, they already have a tracing mill in France; together they have 54% of world market.
2001 No 2 Machine shuts as USA business goes with the sale. Only seen as a temporary shut as No1 Machine seen as beyond Repair or modification. £1.4M sanctioned for No 2 Machine Re-build. No1 Machine closes on 1st December. Mill numbers now down to 159. Output down to 100 tons a week.
2006 PM3 has a new fully enclosed hood installed
2019 Chartham Paper mill has a management buyout, this means that around 80 jobs have been saved
2022 Chartham Paper Mill has been placed in administration, The mill at this time employed 91 people, 67 of those were immediately made redundant, whilst the remaining 24 are assiting the administrators.