Withnell Fold

Withnell Fold is a village situated between Blackburn and Chorley, in Lancashire, England.HistoryWithnell Fold, a model village and paper mill were built on a greenfield site in 1843. The owner and builder was Thomas Blinkhorn Parke (1823–1885), the son of Robert Park, a local cotton mill owner. The houses in Withnell Fold had gardens and outside toilets.The mill was started in 1843 and opened and began production on 15 January 1844, with one machine. Three years later a second machine was installed, and the business was so successful that a third machine was installed in 1855. The machines were known as "74", "66" and "60", the widths of the paper produced. The quality and variety of the paper improved, and in 1849, tissue paper was made, followed in 1856 by coloured tissue.Writing papers were introduced in 1863 and had a reputation for being of the finest quality. Cartridge paper came in 1878. The mill supplied newsprint for Preston, Bolton and Liverpool newspapers. The firm continued as a family concern until 1890 when it combined with Wiggins Teape & Co., an old established firm of stationers. Although the merger did not take place until 1890, the mill had supplied paper to Wiggins and Teape from 1847, and in an old diary kept by Mr. T. B. Parke, there is an entry for February of that year, which reads "Am now making double cap ordered by Wiggins & Teape".Notable dates in the village chronology are: 5 March 1843: Commencement of building work for mill and village cottages. 15 Jan 1844: This was the day on which we commenced making paper. Withnell Fold Paper Mill closed in 1967, and the last batch of paper was made at 13:00 hrs on 23 December 1967.