Walk in Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead

The other week I went for a walk along the canal to see how far the demolition of Nash Mill in Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead is coming along.

I am making a photo diary of the demolition and re-development of the site.

Nothing much had changed at the time and I found another photographer these so I took a quick snap of him and the canal. Not pro shots because I only had my G9 with me.

Nash Mills Canal

Also here is a picture of the canal towards Kings Langley from Nash Mills.

Nash Mills Canal

A little something about Nash Mills

History of Nash Mills

Nash Mills is a very old settlement, the village and the local mill both have the same name, Nash Mills. It means the mill by the ash tree and came about by the erroneous division of the Middle English atten ash.

In the medieval court rolls, Le Ashmill and Nashmyle are mentioned. Originally the mill was used for grinding corn and in the late 17th century it was converted from corn milling to paper making, which at the time was a hand process and remained so until John Dickinson (hence Dickinson Quay)came on the local scene, acquiring Apsley Mill in 1809 and Nash Mills two years later.

John Dickinson was hard working and inventive. He patented thirteen inventions concerned with paper making and his enterprise John Dickinson and Company prospered. In 1836 he built his country house in Nash Mills and called it Abbot's Hill. It is now a private school. He was the founder of Nash Mills school "built for the benefit of his apprentices and the young people of the village".
The John Dickinson site was recently sold, nearly 200 years after John Dickinson first arrived on the scene, and is being re-developed as a marina and housing complex. There are approximately 1750 people on the electoral register for Nash Mills.

The Paper Trail project is an industrial 'exploration' centre built around an historic, fully working paper mill. It offers public access into the heart of a real working environment and is complemented by an active business & industrial enterprise hub. The Paper Trail