Description

REDDITCH B PAPER MILL DRIVE (west side)
SP 0568 Church Hill

8/138 Beoley Paper Mill

II

Paper mill, now warehouse. C17 on earlier site; remodelled late C18 with mid-
(:19 and mid-C20 alterations and additions. Part brick with corrugated iron
cladding, part timber-framed with brick infill and replacement -walling; plain
and machine-tiled hipped and gabled roofs. Main part of T-plan with large
four-bay range aligned east/west; overshot water wheel originally situated
at west end at junction with two-bay intersecting cross-wing which is lower
in height. Two levels. Main south elevation: three large and one small
ground floor windows with cambered heads; four first floor windows; two doors,
one with shuttered transom and one with cambered head; wheel was housed beneath
elliptical archway to left and there is a square opening above the archway.
Cross-wing gable end has a large doorway with a cambered head and three loft
doors, two of which have blue brick sills. At the east gable end there is a
truncated collar and tie-beam truss with two collars, three struts to lower
collar and two raking struts to upper collar. Adjoining the west side of the
cross-wing is a large timber-framed wing of roughly six framed bays and on
two levels; two rows of panels survive at the upper level and there is a collar
and tie-beam truss at the west gable end; in the south elevation there are five
square openings and one rectangular opening at ground floor level; most of the
upper row of panels are open or are blocked with wood boarding; three doors.
A large corrugated iron lean-to addition adjoins the two easternmost bays.
Interior not inspected Large C19 gabled addition adjoins the framed part at
rear. It is probable that the mill site was established by the monks from
Bordesley Abbey about half a mile away. From the late C18 until about 1940
the mill produced "blue" (purple) needle wrapping papers believed to have
been developed by Moorish craftsmen and introduced into this county c1560
by the Huguenots. The mill continued to produce various papers after 1940
until production stopped altogether in 1951. (J G Rollins, The Needle Mills,
SPAB 1970).

Listing NGR: SP0548568473

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26392096

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)