Nash Mills

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Nash Mills
Hertfordshire
Nash Mill Church of England Primary School original building.jpg
Nash Mills School
Location
Grid reference: TL0505
Location: 51°43’48"N, 0°27’4"W
Data
Post town: Hemel Hempstead
Postcode: HP3
Dialling code: 01442
Local Government
Council: Dacorum
Parliamentary
constituency:
Hemel Hempstead

Nash Mills is a community within Hemel Hempstead on the northern side of the Grand Union Canal in the southernmost corner of Hemel Hempstead. It takes its name from the mill owned by John Dickinson (1782-1869) in the 19th century; Nash Mill.

Today the papermills have closed; some buildings have been demolished and others are slowly decaying and falling. However a new community is growing up, in smart canal-front apartments.

The Mill

The Nash Mill from the Grand Union Canal

A corn-mill in the area was recorded in the Domesday Book in the 11th century; it subsequently belonged, in the Middle Ages, to the Abbey of St Albans. The mill had been converted to papermaking in the late 18th century[1] and subsequently purchased in 1811 by John Dickinson and George Longman[2]

Nash Mill was renowned for its production of tough thin paper for Samuel Bagster's "Pocket Reference Bible". A major fire in 1813 was a setback, but the insurance enabled redevelopment for large scale production. After an experiment in 1887, fine rag paper was produced on electrically driven machines: a successful innovation at Nash Mill.[3]

John Dickinson had Nash Mills School built in 1847.[4]

In 1989, Nash Mill was sold to the international Sappi Group and continued to make paper until 2006, when it was closed down and sold. Redevelopment plans for housing were publicised in September 2007. By late 2010, the Mill site had been largely cleared, leaving the mill house, Stephenson's Cottage and the war memorial.[2]

Outside links

References

  1. History of Hemel Hempstead. Hemel Hempstead: Charter Trustees of Hemel Hempstead. 1981. pp. 103. ISBN 0-9502743-1-3. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Nash Mills, Hertfordshire". Archaeological Services & Consultancy Ltd. 2009. http://www.archaeological-services.co.uk/nashmills.html. Retrieved 13 October 2010. 
  3. History of Hemel Hempstead. Hemel Hempstead: Charter Trustees of Hemel Hempstead. 1981. pp. 107. ISBN 0-9502743-1-3. 
  4. "Nash Mills Church of England School". http://www.nashmills.herts.sch.uk/our_school/history.html. Retrieved 13 October 2010.