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Horton Kirby Paper Mill

Horton Kirby Paper Mills can be traced back to the 1820s. The first known manager of the Paper Mill was Henry Hall, who was brother to J & E Hall, the founders of the engineering firm in Dartford. When Henry Hall went into liquidation in 1872 the Mill was taken over by the firm of Spalding & Cudlip. They later became Spalding & Hodge, who were also wholesale stationers in London and had other mills in various parts of the country. By 1894, Spalding & Hodge employed about 400 people from the surrounding district. These must have been prosperous times for the mill because the railway had arrived in 1860. The taller of the two mill chimneys was constructed in 1881 indicating a major expansion at that time. It was extended by 70' to 225' in 1918.

Horton Kirby Paper Mill, South Darenth c1900

Horton Kirby Paper Mill c1930

After Albert E Reed & Co, Reed International as we know it today, had purchased the Mill, a paper coating plant was built to produce the paper for the "big 7" amongst which were The Sphere, Tatler, Bystander and Illustrated London News. In 1922 it was sold to a syndicate owning several of the prominent London illustrated weeklies for the express purpose of making paper for these journals. This venture was not successful and in 1927 they decided to close the Mill and transfer production to their Scottish mills. It was at this time that a new company was formed by James Salmon, who had been manager since 1908, and Mr H Lynch-Watson. Following the takeover, Mr Salmon became Chairman of the company and his son, David, became assistant manager. It was a tradition that was to continue with James Salmon (grandson) joining the business in 1947 and becoming Chairman in the early 1960s.

In the 1920s the paper mill was responsible for the innovation of using esparto grass instead of rags in paper manufacture and had a high reputation introducing a blue tint to the beautiful laid paper. During the War years the Mill was faced with a new task. It was found that information was leaking out through the internment camps. To prevent this, the Government decided to supply the internees with special paper for their letter writing. The paper had to be made so that ordinary writing ink could not be washed off, that any writing with a ball- point pen lightly done in colourless solution such as water or saliva could be easily detected, and writing with a metal point would be clearly visible. This paper was made successfully at Horton Kirby and many tons were sent to the Censor's Department.

The 1950s saw the Mills at their peak with 80 tons of finished paper from the coating mill as well as 150 tons per week from the paper mill being produced. At this time 450 people were regularly employed and the factory ran a three shift system over 24 hours. Workers were called at each shift change by a steam hooter. In 1972 William Nash Ltd of Orpington became the new owners of the Mill and still are. Of the three papermaking machines only one remains. In 1978 the Mill was converted to produce woodchip wallpaper which is popular on the Continent. 80% of the paper produced is exported; 60% of that to Germany. The longest ever serving employee at the Mill was Albert French, a millwright who completed a staggering 70 years before retiring in 1949!

Westminster Mill

Westminster Flour Mill, Horton Kirby c1900

Westminster Mill was situated on the corner of The Street and the entrance to Westminster Fields. Originally a small flour mill was on the site which by 1894 was run by Thomas Millhouse, a church warden of St Mary's who lived in the Mill House. Cannon & Gaze, cornmillers, bought the Mill in 1902 renting it to Vavasour Earle, of Franks Hall who established the Niblet Solid Electric Storage Co in 1903. On 4th July 1908 the Mill was severely damaged by lightning.

Walter Millen with Rowland flewitt rented the premises in September 1914 for their shoelace business. Then in March 1918 Mr Millen purchased the Mill, the Mead, the bridge and the weir.

1926 saw the start of the major expansion at the Mill. The first and second floors were built and a permanent roof was added, then another wing was built on to the northern end of the old Mill in 1929. This work was carried out at the same time as Dartford Council were replacing the old wooden footbridge over the river with a wider concrete bridge.

In 1930 two further extensions were added - an easterly wing which extended to The Street, and a large ground floor extension to the south with glass roofing allowing daylight to enter. A final addition in 1936, similar in style to the southern extension, was built right up to and covered the front of Mill House.

The office was manned by Wally, Walter's son , young Mr Flewitt, Mr Rose the book keeper and Mr Bean who was responsible for a new venture - the production of cork insoles.

Walter Millen Senior was well known for his kindness and generosity in business and social activities. Eileen "Nippy" Filmer began work at the Mill when she was 14 putting tin tags on the bootlaces and was paid 3 /4 d a gross. One of the many works' outings she remembered as follows: "In 1938 a day trip was organised by Mr Millen for the workers. We put one shilling a week aside for 20 weeks. It was a train ride (with breakfast on the train) to Southampton. An ocean liner was in dock at the time and we were fortunate enough to be shown round. This was followed by a coach trip through the New Forest. On the return journey home high tea was served. The highlight of the day was Mr Millen giving back to each of us the money we had saved over the weeks for the trip, plus a present of a cut-glass sugar bowl.

On 4th November 1940 Mr Millen received a notice from the Ministry to vacate the Mill which was to be taken over by Vickers-Armstrong Ltd to produce lighting, nuts and bolts for the war effort. After the War, production began again on the site in April 1946 until 1952 when the company ceased trading.

In 1952 the Mill was sold to the J Day Group which continued to produce shoelaces until 1968 then cable and harnessing for the GPO. The building was empty from 1991 until it was demolished in 2001 to make way for 20 new residential properties on the site.

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