Photo Credit: Jim Wileman
Paper and Print: Exploring the history of paper making in Exeter
Saturday 8 to Saturday 15 February, Positive Light Projects, 184-187 Sidwell St, Exeter EX4 6RD
A sculptural paper installation and a fictional sound story are helping to reveal the tales behind Exeter’s paper making past.
Double Elephant Print Workshop will be showcasing the fascinating discoveries made during Paper and Print – a year-long community research project into Exeter’s paper mills. The exhibition is the culmination of the project which has been run by Double Elephant in partnership with Prof Nicola Thomas, Head of Geography at the University of Exeter, and funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Working with a team of volunteer community researchers, they have pieced together stories of the people working in the mills.
A team of 15 researchers visited former mill sites in Exeter and along the Exe and Culm rivers. They talked to residents, descendants of mill owners and former paper mill workers. They collected memories, oral histories and undertook archive research in the Devon Heritage Centre, Exeter Cathedral Library & Archives and The Devon and Exeter Institution.
The stories the uncovered include:
15 year old Susan Johns was badly injured at Countess Wear paper mill in 1865. She lost an arm, and newspaper records show that Topsham timber merchant John Follett led a national campaign to raise money for her.
George West was born in 1823. He learned his papermaking skills at Bradninch, and then went to the USA where he became known as The Paper Bag King. He was a pioneering papermaker, wealthy businessman and owner of many paper mills. In middle age, he moved into politics and served two terms in the US Congress.
Rodney Coffin has been a Countess Wear resident for 40 years. He lives next to the old mill building, and described how the leat has changed over the years – from teaming with fish and wildlife to an overgrown dried water channel.
The research also uncovered stories of child apprentices learning their trade, the journeying paper-makers travelling between mills, the workers who lost their lives in mill fires, the rag pickers living in the west quarter of Exeter, and those who came to Exeter from India to learn the trade. This evidence of the people who worked in the mills is part of the less visible history of Exeter’s paper industry.
As part of the project, local families and schools took part in papermaking workshops and events. To deliver the sessions, Double Elephant partnered with Devon Wildlife Trust, who now manage some of the former mill sites.
Two new artworks were commissioned in response to the research:
Vestigia is a composite installation created with paper embossed linocuts by Juliette Losq. The title comes from the Latin for “footprints or traces”, and is intended to suggest the way in which we now encounter the buildings and defunct machinery that once comprised Exeter’s paper mills. Many of these structures are hidden and may be discovered along walking routes once trodden by former mill workers.
Exhibition details
Exhibition title: Paper and Print: Exploring the history of papermaking in Exeter
Dates: Saturday 8 – Saturday 15 February 2025, 11 – 3pm daily
(closed Mon 10 Feb)
Venue: Positive Light Projects, 184-187 Sidwell St, Exeter EX4 6RD
Paper Heron: a listening event + artist Q&A
Friday 7 February 2025 at Positive Light Projects
7 – 8pm, ticketed event, £5
More details and book your tickets here or via Double Elephant website.
Courtesy of Gillian Taylor PR https://gilliantaylorpr.com/2025/01/23/new-exhibition-showcases-stories-of-exeters-paper-making-heritage/