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Usk Vale Mill;Usk Paper Works;Usk Paper Mills, Glangrwyney

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NPRN3081
Map ReferenceSO21NW
Grid ReferenceSO2394016110
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPowys
Old CountyBrecknockshire
CommunityThe Vale of Grwyney
Type Of SitePAPER MILL
PeriodPost Medieval
Description
1. One of a cluster of nineteenth-century paper-mills in south Breconshire. The paper-mill was established on the site of Llangrwyney Forge (c. 1720-1842) and operated for a century between c. 1848 and c. 1948. The much-modified buildings have been subsequently used as a saw-dust mill (c. 1960) and latterly as an agricultural vehicle repair shop.
R.F.Suggett, RCAHMW, 07 April 1999.

2. Papermaking became established at Glangrwyne by the middle of the nineteenth century. Located on the site of an old iron-forge erected by Walter Watkins of Dan-y-graig, Llanelli, the mill was worked for the production of brightly coloured shop or grocery papers in 1850. Owing to the purity of the water from the river Grwyne, the mill became famous for the brilliant colour of the paper produced. It changed hands several times in the second half of the century when the Glangrwyne paper industry was clearly declining. It was not until Beckwith and Company took the mill over in 1888 that the work regained its former prosperity. Under the style of the Usk Paper Works, the mill abandoned the production of grocery papers for rope browns. The mill was renovated: lofts were installed for the air-drying process, the old waterwheels were replaced by turbines and in 1900 steam-power was used.
(Source: Paper-Mills and Paper-Makers in Wales 1700-1900, Alun Eirug Davies, National Library of Wales Journal, Vol XV/1, Summer 1967.)
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 10 June 2010.