Paper has been made in the lower Greenfield Valley since 1771. Abbey Paper Mills were established near the foot of the Greenfield Valley, north of Basingwerk Abbey (nprn 35649), around 1821. The mill was run by a variety of operators until 1854 when it was taken over by the London firm of Grosvenor, Chater & Co.; it was believed to be the largest paper mill in Wales at that time. Its output was high-quality writing and ledger paper, for many years using esparto grass imported from north Africa. The site was well-suited to paper manufacture: there was a reliable source of water from the from the Holywell Stream below St. Winifred's Well (nprn 32328) in Holywell; good transport links were available by the Chester and Holyhead Railway and Greenfield Harbour, both nearby; in 1852 Muspratt Brothers & Huntley had opened an Alkali Works (nprn 41108) in nearby Flint from where chemicals used in papermaking could be supplied; and coal was available at Englefield Colliery, just 600m distant along the main coast road. The paper mill closed in 1982.
B.A.Malaws, RCAHMW, 26 November 2009.
Paper-Mills and Paper-Makers in Wales 1700-1900, Alun Eirug Davies, National Library of Wales Journal, Vol XV/1, Summer 1967.