The ‘Amery Mills’ of Merton Priory, the Copper Mills and the Board Mills

Published by Merton Historical Society – January 1997

Further information on Merton Historical Society can be obtained from
the Society’s website at www.mertonhistoricalsociety.org.uk , or from
Merton Library & Heritage Service, Merton Civic Centre, London Road,
Morden, Surrey. SM4 5DX

The ‘Amery Mills’
of Merton Priory,
the Copper Mills
and the Board Mills

MERTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1997

Notes and References

1 Morris J., Domesday Book: Surrey (1975) 1, 5.

2 Heales A., The Records of Merton Priory (1898) 3.

3 Heales, 338, citing Augmentation Office, Minister’s Accounts

29 & 30 Henry VIII Surrey No. 115, m. 5.

4 Jowett E. M., A History of Merton and Morden (1951) 75.

5 Jowett 76.

6 Guiseppi, M. S., “The River Wandle in 1610” Surrey

Archaeological Collections 21 (1898) 170-191.

7 Jowett 81 & 93.

8 Burns D., The Sheriffs of Surrey (1992) 27.

9 Victoria County History of Surrey II (1912) 367.

10 Guildhall Library, MS 11936/12/19411-3.

11 Surrey Record Office, James Cranmer’s Estate and Account Book

1740-1752 2400.

12 Lysons D., Environs of London (1792) 345.

13 Minet Library, MSS 1802, “A Survey and Valuation of an Estate

call’d Merton Abbey in the parish of Merton als. Marton in the

County of Surrey” 63/719 S.505. S. R.

14 Surrey Record Office, Land tax records, Merton.

15 Surrey Record Office, Book of Reference, QS 6/8/164.

16 Braithwaite F., “On the Rise and Fall of the River Wandle”

Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers XX (1861) 191.

17 Chamberlain W. H., Reminiscences of Old Merton (1925) 13.

18 The late James Bass, in a personal communication.

19 Crocker A., “The Paper Mills of Surrey Part III” Surrey History

Vol. V No. 1 (1994) 14-15.

20 Jowett 143.

21 Merton Borough News 22 February 1980.

Front Cover: Former Copper Mills at Merton

2 11

the works in recycling waste paper, over 200 tonnes of which arrived
daily from industry, or from local authority collections. The Merton
mills had the distinction of being the last of several Surrey paper mills,
and to the end kept abreast of modern paper technology. According to
the local press in 1980,
the works in recycling waste paper, over 200 tonnes of which arrived
daily from industry, or from local authority collections. The Merton
mills had the distinction of being the last of several Surrey paper mills,
and to the end kept abreast of modern paper technology. According to
the local press in 1980, £4m. had been invested recently by the
Dickinson Robinson Group in modernising the works, which were
capable of processing nearly 60,000 tonnes of recycled paper a year,
producing laminated fibre board for packing cases used for, amongst
others, the meat, fish and horticultural trades.

The investment, marketing director John Ackerman told the official party,
confirmed the firm’s faith in the future. “It means we can not only
produce more, but also that it will be of better quality.” Five years later
the works had been declared redundant, and the buildings were being
demolished to provide a site for the SavaCentre supermarket, as part of
the “Priory Park” redevelopment scheme.

E. N. Montague
Merton Board Mills in 1975

10

The Domesday survey showed that in 1086 there were two mills on the
royal estate at Merton.1 One, undoubtedly, was the mill bringing in 60s.

p.a. which in 1114 had formed part of the property given to the
Augustinian brethren from Huntingdon who had been invited to establish
a priory at Merton.2 There is a record of Sheriff Gilbert, the founder
and patron of the priory, discussing with his friend Prior Robert in 1114
the point to which the mill should be moved, a clear indication that it
stood where the new priory church and conventual buildings were to be
erected. One at least of the Amery (Almonery?) mills, to which there
are documentary references throughout the Middle Ages, would thus
appear to have been built outside the precinct walls early in the 12th
century as a replacement for the old mill.
In 1534 a William Moraunt was granted a 21 year lease of “two mills in
the parish of Merton called ‘Amery Mills’ together with a tenement
pertaining thereto and a garden called ‘le Amery gardeyn’.”3 At this
time the property was still part of the priory’s manorial estate, but after
the Dissolution it became a separate hereditament. In 1558 it was leased
to John Penson, who may have been the actual miller, and he retained
possession until the end of the century.4 The purpose for which the mills
were then used appears not to have been recorded, but it is likely that
they were both corn mills.

Over the next 100 years the former priory mills were to have several
new owners, Edward Ferrars acquiring title in 1609, George Low and
another in 1613, and Sir Francis Clerke in 1629.5 None of these
gentlemen is likely to have been involved personally in the business of
running the mills, and the names of two “mealmen” – George Rooper of
Merton and Thomas Child of Mitcham – were recorded in a survey
conducted in 1610 as being in occupation of corn mills on the Wandle at
Merton.6 In her History of Merton and Morden Evelyn Jowett suggested
that copper milling, in addition to flour milling, may have been taking
place at Merton early in the 17th century, but did not quote her sources,5
and it now seems that this particular industry did not come to the area
until the following century.

3

Rowland Wilson, citizen and vintner of London, who died in 1654,
acquired the Merton estates in 1624, and through his daughter, ownership
passed to his grandson, Ellis Crisp.
Rowland Wilson, citizen and vintner of London, who died in 1654,
acquired the Merton estates in 1624, and through his daughter, ownership
passed to his grandson, Ellis Crisp. Although he was also to inherit a
substantial estate in Wimbledon and Wandsworth from his mother, Ellis
Crisp is said to have been to a large extent a self-made man. Certainly,
he was regarded by his contemporaries as “a fanatic industrialist”, and
his standing in the community was sufficient for him to serve as sheriff
of Surrey from 1671-2.8 Little, however, is known of his activities in
Merton, although it is just conceivable that he might have been responsible
for creating the massive mill-head which survives as a straight canalised
section of the Wandle between Windsor Avenue and Merantun Way.
The indications are that in the years following the restoration of the
monarchy something of an industrial revolution was experienced in the
Wandle valley, with new industries being introduced, and many of the
old mills being enlarged. In the process the river was diverted and new
mill-heads created to impound greater volumes of water to ensure
adequate reserves of power.

The unbridled activity of landowners and industrialists seeking to exploit
the power of the Wandle for their own ends was bound to cause friction,
and a cause célèbre involving the owner of the priory mills in the late
17th century is recorded in the Victoria County History.9 A brazil or
dyewood mill at Merton, one of three owned by Crisp, and located
immediately downstream from the priory mills, had been let by Ellis
Crisp to a Jonathan Welch, probably soon after the Restoration. Tenure
of this mill passed subsequently to Welch’s sons, Jonathan and Joseph,
who, finding their livelihood threatened by a decrease in the flow of
water to the mill through the construction of a new mill on the priory
site, were obliged to take action in the courts against the new owner of
the Merton Abbey estate, Sir Edward Smith. At a hearing at the Surrey
Assizes in January 1693 they were awarded damages, and the court
ordered the new mill, which it was understood would be used for fulling,
to be pulled down. Sir Edward appealed to the House of Lords the
following March, but the order was upheld.

4

Fire was, of course, a constant hazard when dealing with a flammable
commodity such as paper. In July 1895 a large store shed at the Merton
Abbey mills, containing some 250 tons of waste paper, was destroyed,
the damage amounting to £1,000. Serious as this was, this particular
event was the cause of some local amusement, the Paper Record &
Wood Pulp News reporting at the time that:

“As the local fire brigade had never had anything to do it was suggested
some time ago that they should apply a match to this shed and give an
exhibition of their prowess. Mr. Bill the manager of the works is also
the captain of the fire brigade and is being subjected to a good deal of
‘chaff’ in this suggestion now.”19

In 1897 the Metropolitan Paper Company’s mills at Merton were
producing between 30 and 40 tons of paper a week. All manner of users
were supplied, and the mills’ output included newspaper, cartridges,
“common and superfine middles”, card for railway tickets, and printing
papers. Both steam and water power were used. The following year the
mills were taken over by Albert E. Reed and Co. Reed was the founder
of Reed International, and the owner of other paper mills at Godalming
and in Kent. He left Merton in 1917, and in 1923 the old Metropolitan
Paper Co.’s buildings were replaced by those of the Merton Board Mills,
a concern which developed to become one of the largest cardboard
manufacturers in England.20 The mills were badly damaged by German
bombs in the “Blitz”, but soon after the 1939/45 war they were rebuilt
and, as the New Merton Board Mills, gradually expanded to take over
the whole of the land to the west, formerly occupied by William Morris
& Co.

The huge buildings of the Board Mills and the three massive chimneys
serving a bank of coal-fired marine boilers were to dominate the skyline
of Merton for 40 years. The mills finished their days as the Merton
Packaging Works of the Dickinson Robinson Group. In February 1980,
when the mills were visited by the mayor and mayoress of Merton as
guests of the management, emphasis was placed on the role played by

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horses. In all, the copper works covered an acre of land lying between
Merton High Street and the old priory precinct wall, in other words, the
site of the Amery mills. In addition, to the south of the wall, Robinsons
had a garden and a paddock for the horses totalling two acres in extent.
horses. In all, the copper works covered an acre of land lying between
Merton High Street and the old priory precinct wall, in other words, the
site of the Amery mills. In addition, to the south of the wall, Robinsons
had a garden and a paddock for the horses totalling two acres in extent.

By 1834 the occupiers of the copper mills were Daniel Towers Shears
and James Henry Shears, holding them by lease from the landowners,
Mansfield and Smith.15 In 1853 Braithwaite found Shears and Sons’
mills working day and night. The three large wheels working together
produced 50 h.p., but not infrequently they were short of water, and it
was necessary for power to be augmented by a steam engine of 40 h.p.16

Chamberlain recalled the mills as occupying “large buildings of tarred
wood, with red tiled roofs and a number of furnaces and chimneys, which
formed quite a favourite subject for many artists.”17 Within the mill
there was “a large hammer worked by a waterwheel, which could be
heard a considerable distance, more especially in the stillness of the night.”
The copper works had an impact on the locality in other ways, including
providing employment for a number of local men. Some had come from
further afield, including James Barton Bass, a copper roller from Fareham
who had been attracted to Merton by the prospect of skilled work, and
bought one of the two Millers Mead cottages in 1831.18

Copper working continued at Merton until sometime after 1865, but in
1895 the first entry appears in the Paper Mills Directory for the Merton
Abbey mills of the Metropolitan Paper Co., who had then taken over the
site.19 Paper manufacture was not new to Merton, and there is mention
of a paper mill belonging to a Mr. Higgins, but the precise location is not
known. It was burned to the ground by “some villains” in 1774, the
damage being assessed at £1,000, and was not rebuilt. The allocation of
an excise number to James Bagshaw in 1832 provides evidence for the
existence of a second paper mill at Merton, but this seems to have been
short-lived, and the number was re-allocated in 1845. Charles Daniel
Nichols, a former paper maker of Merton, was declared an insolvent
debtor in 1840, and may have been an associate of Bagshaw. Once
again the site of the mill is unknown.

8

One assumes, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that both mills
on the site of the old Amery Mills were engaged in the production of
flour and meal until the turn of the century, by which time one of them, or
a new mill, was used for grinding brazil wood to produce dyes.10 Early
in the 18th century another mill here was being used for the working of
copper by a David Banker who, in 1720, insured his house and business
premises at Merton (including a flour mill and a brazil mill) with the Sun
office.10 His immediate successor is not known, but copper milling
evidently continued on the site, and by 1780 the Merton copper mill was
in the occupation of one “Thoyts”. Almost certainly, he was a relative of
the William Thoyts, a coppersmith from Whitechapel who, from 1744
until 1769, was the tenant of a copper mill at the end of Willow Lane,
Mitcham.11 Valued at £140 for tax purposes, the copper mill was, like
the rest of the Merton Abbey estate, then in the possession of the Phipard
family, who held the freehold. Lysons noted the copper mill, commenting
that “… on the northeast corner of the premises” (i.e. Halfhide’s calico
print works) “is a copper mill, in the occupation of Mr. Thoyts, which
has been long established here.”12 Thoyts and Company’s tenure seems
to end in 1801 (the last year they paid land tax), and in 1802 the copper
mill was let to Messrs. Robinson and others.13 The land tax records give
the occupier as Francis Morgan.14

The mill premises at this time included two weatherboarded houses, one
occupied by the foreman, and the other by labourers. Another
weatherboarded building, the copper rolling mill, contained one pair of
rollers worked by an undershot wheel. A hammer mill, part of which
had formerly been a brazil mill, was also in a weatherboarded building.
This comprised two hammers, 6-7 cwt each, worked by two large
undershot wheels. Two smaller wheels worked the bellows to two hearths
for heating the copper. Various other weatherboarded structures made
up a complex assemblage of buildings. There was a blacksmith’s forge,
a copper house and millwright’s shop in which were two large furnaces
for melting copper, a charcoal house, timber house and nailmaker’s shop,
a coal shed, a loam shed, carriage and cart houses, and stabling for five

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