Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Springfield Mill, see separate records for Beam, Rag Room and Chimney.

Monument Types

• BEAM ENGINE (BEAM ENGINE, Post Medieval - 1825 AD to 1900 AD)
• PAPER MILL (PAPER MILL, Post Medieval - 1825 AD to 1900 AD?)

Full description

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TQ 756 566. Maidstone. Beam engine remains 1805. Springfield paper mill. (1).

History from Historic England Report:

Paper making developed as a major industry in the Maidstone area from the late C17 due to the suitability of the River Len for water-power and its proximity to London, the major market for paper and source of rags, its raw material. There were seven functioning paper mills between 1671 and 1700 and by 1733 there were 14 mills. By 1865 this number had increased to around 40.
Springfield Mill, the first paper mill to be successfully powered solely by steam, was founded in 1805 by William Balston (1759-1849). Balston had been apprenticed in 1774 to James Whatman II (1741-1798), owner of Turkey Mill and one of the most successful paper makers of the C18. By 1794, when Whatman sold Turkey Mill, Balston was his principal subordinate and he entered into partnership with the new owners to form Hollingworths and Balston with a loan of £5,000 from Whatman. The outbreak of war with France in 1793 had cut off the import of superior French paper and the new firm prospered. By 1805 Balston had decided to open his own steam-powered mill on the banks of the River Medway at a site with a spring that provided the clean water necessary for the paper making process. The new mill, with its 36 horse-power Boulton and Watt beam engine powering a 'Hollander' (the machine which broke down the rags into a pulp) opened at the end of 1807. Running for 440 ft, parallel with the Medway, it consisted of a Drying Room at the north and Rag Room at the south with rooms for the various processes, and the engine and its boilers, set between them.

William Balston was succeeded by his two sons, William and Richard, but in November 1862 the mill was severely damaged by a fire necessitating the rebuilding the Drying Room and much of the central section of the mill. The beam engine, however, remained in use until it was de-commissioned in 1896-7. The mill continued to be enlarged, largely to the east, into the 1930s and presents a complex picture of different phases of development. During the early C20 it was the largest producer of hand-made paper in the world. The mill remained in the ownership of the Balston family until 1974 when W & R Balston merged with Angel Reeve International to form Whatman Angel Reeve, later Whatman International Ltd.

For clarity, the former Rag Room, which is separated from the central core to the north by a narrow alley and is a long two-storey building running north-south, of stock brick Flemish Bond with a slate half-hipped roof is already listed at Grade II. To the south of the office block stands the iron beam from the 1806 Boulton and Watt beam engine set on a plinth (Grade II). The factory chimney is also separately listed at Grade II.

Immediately to the east of the mill are several Second World War air-raid shelters built into a bank. These were not inspected (2015) and have not been assessed for listing.

Details
Paper mill. Originally opened in 1807 by William Balston. Largely destroyed in a fire in 1862 and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged in multiple phases from 1863 until the late C20. The former Rag Room, the beam of the beam engine and chimney are separately listed at Grade II.
MATERIALS: yellow stock brick with some stone dressings. Kentish ragstone is used for some plinths.
Buildings from between 1897 and 1908 have dressings of Gault brick. Roofs are mainly of slate with some later felt or steel-clad roofs.
PLAN: the mill, despite the rebuilding of much of its fabric following the fire of 1862 and with later
enlargements, retains the essential layout of the original building of 1807 with a long Drying Room to the north (rebuilt after 1862); and a largely single-storey production area in the centre (of various phases but with little evidence of original early C19 fabric and extended to the east mainly between 1883 and 1936).

DESCRIPTION: taken from north to south, the principal elements of the mill which have been assessed for listing here consist of the following:

The Drying Room
The Drying Room, rebuilt c1863 on the footprint of the original building destroyed in the fire of 1862, is a long rectangular, double-height, single-storey building adjoining the central part of the mill at its southern end. It is built of yellow stock brick with the upper level of timber louvres and a pitched slate roof. The building is divided into three large bays by brick cross walls rising above the pitch of the roof. The southern bay has been altered by the insertion of windows to light a later mezzanine floor. A series of late-C20 timber single-storey outshuts have been added to the western elevation .
Internally, the timber king-post roof trusses remain in place, supported in places by a modern steel frame. All the full-height drying racks which lined the walls have been removed, replaced by modern plant.

Central Core
The central section of the mill consists of a complex series of contiguous brick buildings of various dates forming a roughly U-shaped plan. Most buildings are oriented north-south but with some groups, particularly in the north-east and south-west corners, running east-west. The central core can be broadly divided in western and eastern sections, joined in the north but otherwise separated by a narrow alley. The western section largely dates from the 1860s rebuilding (but with some possible fragmentary early-C19 fabric at the southern end) while the eastern section mainly consists of buildings added southwards in various phases between 1883 and 1936.

Central Core – Western Section
Extending west and adjoining the Drying Room at right-angles is a hip-roofed, two-storey plus basement block built between 1863 and 1883. Originally the Salle (where the finished sheets of paper were sorted), this is of yellow stock brick laid in Flemish bond with a Kentish ragstone plinth. Fenestration to the north elevation is of paired six-pane timber casements in plain square-headed openings on the ground floor and continuous four-pane timber sashes on the upper floor. Between 1897 and 1908 the core of the mill was extended westwards towards the river with a north-south aligned Finishing Room of 12 bays providing most of the west elevation. This was again of two-storeys plus basement with a hipped roof, built of yellow stock brick laid in English bond with a rendered plinth. Gault bricks are used in the detailing and identify buildings of this period.
Fenestration is of timber casement windows set in segmental arched openings with stone sills on the lower floor and square heads on the upper. This part of the western elevation is completed by the slightly projecting, and originally free-standing Paper Store built between 1883 and 1897. This is of two-storeys plus basement (expressed as a lower storey on the western elevation due to the slope of the ground towards the River Medway) and of four bays. It is of stock brick laid in Flemish bond with a ragstone plinth/basement and hipped roof. Fenestration is of multi-pane iron windows in arched brick openings with stone sills. The southern return has an original goods door at first-floor level and a modern cargo door on the ground-floor.

The western elevation continues with the gable ends of two east-west buildings. These probably were part of the post-1863 rebuild but the upper parts of the gables have arched windows and oculi with cream brick dressings suggesting they were partly rebuilt between 1897 and 1908. The western end of the southern of these two buildings forms a covered way giving access into the interior of the complex. The buildings at this end of the mill originally contained the beam engine and boilers but little evidence of fabric relating to its original building is apparent. The boiler room was demolished in the 1960s. Two small gable ends on the southern elevation, built of stock brick in Flemish bond similar to the Rag Room, may be of early-C19 date and be surviving elements of one of two store rooms shown on a plan of 1814. One of the gables has later brickwork at ground level and both have single iron windows in arched openings on the first floor.

Two large, single-storey, north-south buildings, originally of c1863, date from the eastern side of the western section of the mill, separated from the eastern section by a narrow alley. The northern range has been altered, including the raising of the walls and re-roofing, in the late C20. Probably around the same time, the southern building was replaced with a new flat-roofed building.

Central Core – Eastern Section
The eastern section consists of a series of long brick, mainly single-storey, sheds with pitched roofs. From north to south they consist of; a series of mostly east-west orientated buildings ranging in date from 1863 to 1936; four adjacent north-south ranges dating from 1883-1897; and lastly, at the southern end, three adjacent north-south buildings probably dating from 1929, the date shown on the southern gable of the central range.

Central Core - Interiors
The interiors consist of various interconnecting warehouse-like spaces with, mainly, boarded roofs. Some retain their timber roof trusses whilst others have been replaced with steel trusses. The two-storey Paper Store has cast-iron columns and a boarded timber ceiling on the ground floor. A timber stair gives access to the upper-storey which has a modern suspended ceiling. All machinery in the Central Core is modern.

Office block
Orientated east-west, the office block adjoins the rag room at its southern end and dates from between 1897 and 1908. Of two storeys, it is built of stock brick laid in English bond with a hipped slate roof. Fenestration consists of metal-framed windows in arched openings with stone sills. Interiors have been modernised.
To the east and north of the office building are a block of two-storey buildings of mainly 1883-1897 date. All are of stock brick with mainly hipped slate roofs and have undergone various C20 alterations.

Other buildings
The site contains a large number of small buildings of varying date and function but most date from the C20.
Exceptions to this include the building to the west of the central core, identified as a rag store (now the PMC Plant) and a small building to the south of the office range which was originally a smithy.
The former Rag Store is probably of mid-C19 date but with later additions. It is a rectangular plan, two-storey plus basement building of stock brick laid in Flemish bond with a hipped slate roof. Original brick-arched window openings have been largely replaced with later square openings with stone sills and lintels. The interior was not inspected.

The former smithy is a small single-storey building with a curved south-east corner and pitched slate roof. It appears on a ground plan of the mill of c1833. Originally of Kentish ragstone, which survives as the lower part of the walls on the south and east elevations, the building has been much altered with later C20 brickwork and an early C20 northern extension. The interior was not inspected (2015).

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION

The chimney at Springfield Mill, Maidstone, rebuilt in 1837 on the site of an earlier chimney of c1809, is recommended for listing at Grade II for the following principal reason:
* Architectural interest: as a good example of a mid-C19 industrial chimney, few examples of which
survive in Kent;
* Historic interest: Springfield Mill was the first paper mill in the world to be successfully powered by
steam and the chimney, although not the original, is an evocative reminder of this fact.

The remaining unlisted elements of Spingfield Mill are not recommended for listing for the following principal reasons:
* Historic interest: nearly all the surviving elements of the core of the mill date from the period after the original mill was largely destroyed in a fire in 1862. They are not, therefore, representative of the original steam-powered mill;
* Degree of survival: much of the core of the building has been subsequently altered as a result of
operating requirements so that the internal space is no longer representative of the original paper making process;
* Machinery: no original machinery, apart from the already listed engine beam; survives.

The list entries for the Grade II listed former Rag Room and the Boulton and Watt engine beam should be amended for the following principal reason:
* List enhancement: to provide clarity. (2).

<1> Indust Arch of SE Eng 1978 48 (AJ Haselfoot) (OS Card Reference). SKE44284.

<2> historic england, 2015, Springfield Mill Historic England Advice Report (Unpublished document). SKE31390.

<3> Swale & Thames Archaeological Survey Company, 2017, Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment for the Rag Room and Drying Room buildings at the former Springfield Paper Mill, Maidstone, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE53530.

Sources and further reading

Related records