Frogmore Paper Mill receives Engineering Heritage Award

Frogmore receives the accolade from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in recognition of its importance as the world’s oldest mechanised paper mill.

The Frogmore Paper Mill in Hertfordshire has received a prestigious Engineering Heritage Award from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in recognition of its importance as the world’s oldest surviving commercial paper mill.

In 1803, the Frogmore site in Hemel Hempstead was chosen by the French entrepreneurs Henry and Sealy Fourdrinier as the place for the installation of a revolutionary new paper machine built for them by the English engineer Bryan Donkin.

The machine was the first in the world to make a continuous reel of paper. Now known around the world wherever it is used as a ‘Fourdrinier’ paper machine, such was its success that this type of machine still makes most of the world’s paper today.

John Wood, Chair of the Heritage Committee said,

“The Committee were particularly excited by this application because this is a site that was a milestone in manufacturing technology. Paper was an essential element in progressing learning and, with it, the Industrial Revolution. Making it manually was a slow and necessarily expensive business so mechanising that process was such an important step forward that it is almost impossible to quantify its importance. The fact that we have at Frogmore such an historic site still containing an early machine capable of doing the job it was designed to do is probably unique.”

Accepting the award on behalf of the Apsley Paper Trail trust who operate Frogmore Paper Mill, Peter Burford said,

“We are particularly delighted that this Engineering Heritage Award recognises the significance of the both the Paper Mill and the Paper Machine for - as the citation reads – improving the world through engineering. The trust exists to remind the public of how true this statement is and to remember the how significant a role that cheap and plentiful paper has played in shaping the world we live in today.”

This will be the 126^th Engineering Heritage Award to be presented by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  The awards, established in 1984, aim to promote artefacts, sites or landmarks of significant engineering importance – past and present.

Previous winners of Engineering Heritage Awards include Alan Turing’s Bombe at Bletchley Park, the E-Type Jaguar and Concorde.

Notes to Editors

• Contact the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Press Office on 020 7973 1261 or email media@imeche.org
• The Institution of Mechanical Engineers was established in 1847 and has some of the world’s greatest engineers in its history books. It is one of the fastest growing professional engineering institutions. Headquartered in London, we have operations around the world and over 117,000 members in more than 140 countries working at the heart of the most important and dynamic industries such as the automotive, rail, aerospace, medical, power and construction industries.
• The Engineering Heritage Awards, established in 1984, aim to promote artefacts, sites or landmarks of significant engineering importance – past and present. For more information: Engineering Heritage Awards.