Papermill veterans share memories of industrial past
Around three dozen people met at Maidstone Museum for an event to share memories of the County Town’s industrial past.
Visitors were able to see artefacts from the collections, in St Faith’s Street and were encouraged to bring in their own items from home.
Among those present were John Lindley and Alan Witt who both worked at the Whatman papermill at Springfield.
Mr Lindley joined the company as a 15-year-old boy in 1954 to complete a five-year apprenticeship as a papermaker.
He said: “When I started they were still making a lot of drawing and ledger paper by hand, but after there or four years they closed the vat house and stopped hand-made paper, though they continued to make drawing and ledger paper by machine until around 1964.”
The company was one of Maid- stone’s biggest employers with about 1,000 staff.
Even now, 19 years after his retirement Mr Lindley still joins a reunion twice a year attended by about 40 to 60 former colleagues. The Springfield Mill was built between 1807 and 1808 by William Balston, who had served as an apprentice at Turkey Mill under James Whatman’s son, also called James.
But the real home of hand-made paper in Maidstone was Hayle Mill, owned by the Barcham Green family, in Tovil.
Built in 1808, it continued to produce paper by hand until 1987. It was converted to housing in 2007.
Other key industries in Maidstone included brewing, furniture-making, food processing and motor manufacture.
Fremlins is probably the best known brewery, although there were several including Style and Winch, Mason and Isherwood , and Foster and Stacey. The furniture makers included the Len Cabinet Works - buried beneath The Mall shopping centre in 1976 - and Nestledown Beds which moved from Maidstone in the 1980s.
There was Foster Clark’s, who made soups, custard powder, and introducing canning to the town, as well Sharps toffee factory.
Tilling Stevens in St Peter’s Street, established in 1897, made buses, lorries and during the Second World War even armoured cars. Production stopped in 1975.
The free event was run with the museum’s regular Café Culture group with the support of Golding Homes.