River Wye's Industrial Heritage
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Christopher ServantRiver Wye's Industrial Heritage
Uploaded by
Christopher ServantCoordinates: 51°34′13″N 0°42′40″W
River Wye, Buckinghamshire
The River Wye is a river in Buckinghamshire,
Wye
England. Around 9 miles (14 km) in length, it rises
close to West Wycombe village in the Chiltern Hills and
flows through High Wycombe before emptying into the
River Thames at Bourne End, on the reach above
Cookham Lock. In particularly wet years, the source
can temporarily change and effectively extend the river
by another mile, due to a chalk spring rising above the
ground in a field further up the same valley.
High Wycombe takes part of its name from the river,
which now runs mostly underground through the
town.[1] Pann Mill watermill, at the eastern end of River Wye near Wooburn Industrial Estate
Wycombe, is the last remaining watermill on the River
Wye.[2] Location
Country England
History Counties Buckinghamshire
Towns High Wycombe, Bourne End
There is a long history of water-mills being operated in Physical characteristics
the Wye Valley which drops about 220 feet (67 m) in its Source
9-mile (14 km) course. The Domesday Book records
• location West Wycombe, Chiltern Hills
eighteen of them in the nine miles between West
• coordinates 51°38′52″N 0°48′45″W
Wycombe and the Thames.[3] By the seventeenth
century there were fulling mills as well as corn mills. A • elevation 94m
Court of Survey in 1627 lists six mills running upstream Mouth River Thames
from the boundary with Wooburn Parish: the paper mill, • location Bourne End
Tredway, Loudwater, Bassetsbury, Chalfonts (Rye) and • coordinates 51°34′13″N 0°42′40″W
Bridge. There were by this time at least two paper mills:
• elevation 26m
Glory in Wooburn Green and Hedge in Loudwater. By
1636 another paper mill had been established in the Length 14 km (8.7 mi)
parish of West Wycombe and by 1656 another at Discharge
Marsh, below Wycombe. At this time paper was made • location Hedsor
from rags and by the end of the eighteenth century more • average 1.00 m3/s (35 cu ft/s)
than 150 men were recorded as papermakers in the • minimum 0.25 m3/s
valley. In 1816 there were 32 paper mills (some of (8.8 cu ft/s)25 December 1973
which also milled corn), four which only milled corn • maximum
4.40 m3/s
and one which was also a saw mill. This was when (155 cu ft/s)25 September 1981
paper making reached its peak in the valley. However,
Discharge
the introduction of the Fourdrinier machine at the
nearby Frogmore Paper Mill, which produced a • location High Wycombe
continuous roll of paper, led to widespread • average 0.31 m3/s (11 cu ft/s)
unemployment and many families went to the cotton
mills of Lancashire. In 1830 there were riots when machine wreckers broke the machines at Ash, Marsh
Green and Loudwater. Twenty men were punished by penal transportation to Tasmania.[4]
Papermaking continued at the Soho and Glory mills till the end of the twentieth century, though the water-
mills gave way to steam in the mid-nineteenth century. The Soho mill in Wooburn was the prime supplier of
high-grade colour paper till its demise in 1984.[5]
Mills
Shown in order from highest to lowest. Note that Marsh Green to Treadway are on an extra cut parallel to
Pan to Loudwater Mills. The number is that given by registration in the eighteenth century.
Last
Name[6] Recorded
record
No Type OS Ref
West Wycombe Mill 1311 1900~ sawmill (18thC) SU 8373 9415
Upper, Francis or Little Mill 1681 1903 423 paper SU 8443 9400
Lower, Mill End or Fryer's Mill 1505 1915 422 Corn & paper SU 8490 9384
Lord, Frog or Ball Mill 1717 1883 421 Corn & paper SU 8550 9363
Ash or Lane's Mill
1596 1895 419, 420 paper SU 8600 9339
(Broughton/Wynkle's) (2)
Temple Mill (Gosenham) 1227 1895 corn SU 8631 9315
Bridge Mill 1185 1932 corn SU 8653 9290
Pann Mill 1185 1967 corn SU 8705 9276
Rye Mill (Bradshaw's, Sale's,
1346 1931 411 paper SU 8746 9260
Bowler's, New)
Bassetbury Mill 1411 1931 corn SU 8771 9240
Bowden Mill (2) 1235 1939 415, 416 Corn & paper SU 8830 9220
Wycombe Marsh Mill (Lower Marsh) 1133 1993 414 paper SU 8880 9195
King's Mill (New) 1725 1939 417 paper SU 8746 9260
Loudwater Mill (2) 1483 1939 430, 431 paper SU 9014 9079
Snakely or Ford's Mill 1767 1970 428 paper SU 9027 9036
Hedge Mill 1235 1970 427 Corn & paper SU 9042 9012
Marsh Green or Upper Marsh Mill 1750 1816 412 Corn & paper SU 8790 9212
Beech Mill 1740 1900 413 paper SU 8881 9155
Treadway Mill (Overshot's) 1682 1854 418 Corn & paper SU 8999 9056
Corn, metal &
Clapton Mill 1492 1922 429, 509 SU 9100 8997
paper
Glory Mill (2) 1235 2000 426 Corn & paper SU 9130 8950
Lower Glory Mill 1631 1907 425 Corn & paper SU 9160 8895
Soho Mill 1705 1988 424 Corn & paper SU 9080 8770
287, 288,
Prince's Mill (Egham Green) (3) 1730 1865 Corn & paper SU 9009 8736
289
Gunpowder Mill (Jackson's) 1705 1980 286 Corn & paper SU 8978 8717
Hedsor Mill 1492 1980 285 Corn & paper SU 8962 8670
Lower Bourne End Mill 1719 1895 284 Corn & paper SU 8948 8643
See also
Tributaries of the River Thames
List of rivers of England
References
1. Bucks Free Press River Clean-up Project gets Underway 1 October 2008 (http://www.bucksfr
eepress.co.uk/news/3719910.River_clean_up_project_gets_underway/)
2. Pann Mill Watermill (http://www.pannmill.org.uk/)
3. L. John Mayes (1985). "Paper in the Wye Valley". In G T Mandl (ed.). Three Hundred Years
in Paper. London:G T Mandl.
4. "Brief History of High Wycombe" (https://web.archive.org/web/20110525211409/http://www.b
uckscc.gov.uk/bcc/swop/history.page). Buckinghamshire County Council. Archived from the
original (http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/swop/history.page) on 25 May 2011. Retrieved
7 July 2010.
5. "Wooburn and Bourne End Parish Council" (http://www.wooburnparish.gov.uk/). Retrieved
8 July 2010.
6. Alan Mead (1999), Days of Glory, Far Out Publications
