20839

 

II  

Designated  

19/11/1998  

19/11/1998  

Drying House of former Golden Grove Paper Mill  

 

Powys  

The Vale of Grwyney  

 

Llangenny  

324046  

217754  

 

SE of house on R bank of Grwyne river approximately 400m S of Llangenny church.  

Commercial  

 

Llangenny Paper Mill was founded late C18 and in 1840 became known as the Golden Grove Mill under the ownership of James Jacob & Son, after which it was primarily known for the manufacture of millboards. The first volume of Theophilus Jones' History of Brecknockshire was printed in 1805 on paper from Llangenny Mill. The mill closed c1893 when the company moved its operations to Cardiff. The drying house is shown on the Tithe map of 1839 and may therefore belong to the original mill block. After the sheets of paper had been compressed in posts of sheets separated by woollen felts, they were removed to the drying house and hung in the loft to dry. Drying houses were specialised buildings whose lofts were fitted with adjustable louvres in order to control the air flow, they generally fell into disuse as the 'endless web' of mechanised papermaking, from pulp to finished product superseded the individual handmade sheets. However in the manufacture of millboards layers of paper were fused together and partially dried on heated cylinders, they were then removed to a loft for the drying process to be completed in the traditional way. The remainder of the mill is now ruinous, although mill race and wheelpit for an undershot waterwheel survive.  

Two-storey drying house of rubble stone, the upper storey with horizontal wooden louvres in the side walls, and slate roof. The W wall has boarded double doors at the L end, and a boarded central bay in the upper storey. In the lower storey is a boarded door to R under a timber lintel, double boarded doors to the centre (the original opening narrowed with blockwork), and a similar narrowed doorway L of centre. At L end is a boarded door, R of which are C20 added stairs to the upper storey. Attached at ends are added walls of a narrow rectangular enclosure continuing the full length of the W wall and with a central field gate. The 2-window E wall, facing the river, has 3-light and 2-light casements beneath timber lintels, and a blocked door to the R, above which are 2 small openings. The N gable end is partly rebuilt in blockwork and has ruined walls of other mill buildings attached. The S gable end has an added lean-to.  

Not inspected at time of survey (December 1997).  

A very rare surviving example of a highly specialised building type, and representing a once important local industry.