Description and History of Site:-
It was a large and complex paper mill that used only waste paper and cardboard as raw materials, and processed the material into brown paper sheeting, corrugated paper and card and cardboard boxes using a Fourdrinier machine. There were two cottages, a manager's house and office block on site. Originally there was a headrace channel from a still-extant weir in the Ribble and a tailrace channel but they were removed many years ago.

After closure the site remained dormant until it was taken over by a stone merchant as a stone yard and sawmill in 2015. All buildings that related to the paper mill were demolished and cleared away. The mill - alternatively called Langcliffe Old Mill - was a manorial corn mill in the medieval period and, like to so many such abandoned mills it was taken on and converted for alternative use, this one in 1793. Robert Salmon, of Kent, paper maker, took on the mill using waste material rather than pulp from the outset. In 1851 it was bought out by Christies who owned the local cotton mills and they leased this site to John Roberts of Cumberland, paper maker, in 1880. His company purchased the lease in 1919 and ran the business as John Roberts Paper Ltd. In 1947 paper converting was added to their portfolio and in 1965 corrugated materials too. This private company was bought out and the paper mill was closed down in 2006 with raw paper being brought in thenceforward to its conversion factory in Langcliffe High Mill (qv).

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Key Words :- paper mill

Viewing the Site :- from the road or riverside footpath

Address :- B6479, Langcliffe, Settle, North Yorkshire, BD24
Grid Ref :- SD 8223 6601
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.089686 , Long -2.273162
Local Authority :- Craven District Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site in alternative industrial use
Site Dates :- 1793 - 2006
Record Date :- 30 January 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © David Johnson