Visit
the Wookey Hole hand-made papermill
On entering
the Victorian papermill there is the
opportunity to pause for a few minutes
to watch a fascinating film about
the history of paper: "Wookey
Hole - The Great Paper Trail".
Mankind’s
progress has always depended on our
ability to communicate ideas. First
came speech, then the ability to draw
- the earliest crude drawings on sand
and cave walls were a gigantic intellectual
step, calling for the invention of
implements and pigments to represent
people and animals.
From
earliest crude drawings the great
civilisations of China, Egypt and
Asia Minor developed writing - inscribing
hieroglyphics on stone, clay, metal,
bark and cloth.
Egypt
developed the use of papyrus, the
earliest known manuscripts of which
date from 2200 BC.
It was
in China that the biggest steps were
taken. Calligraphy was invented there
in 2700 BC, and in 250 BC the invention
of the camel-hair brush revolutionised
the written language.
See
our Paper Mill - click here
By 105
AD the Chinese had invented true paper,
a thin felted material formed on flat,
porous moulds from macerated vegetable
fibre. For the next 500 years the
Chinese were able to retain a monopoly
on papermaking, but then the skill
spread westwards, and the earliest
existing European manuscript on paper
dates from 1109.
In 1476
William Caxton established his mechanical
printing office in Westminster, and
this stimulated the rapid growth of
paper mills in England to meet the
ever increasing demand for paper.
The rest, as they say, is history...!
The earliest
mill at Wookey Hole (for grinding
corn) was recorded in the Doomsday
Book of 1086. By 1610 it was already
a paper mill, and to this day handmade
paper is still made from raw cotton
at Wookey Hole Mill, using original
Victorian machinery.
Visitors
can watch the skilled Vatman and his
assistant, the Coucher, making paper
in the traditional way. Visitors can
also have a go at making some paper
themselves.
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