The Apsley site was a mill at the time of the Domesday Book (1086) and had certainly been there at least 100 years prior to that.

Apsley Mill first made Paper in 1778 and was known as Mill No 403 in the Excise List.  Bought by John Dickinson in 1809, it had ceased to make paper by 1888.  Thereafter the Mill concentrated on converting paper from company’s other mills into stationery, particularly envelopes, cards and ledgers.  Also laminated card for railway tickets etc. by pasting layers of paper/board together.

In 1933 100 million envelopes were made weekly at Apsley Mill and by 1937 5,000 people were employed.

In 1966 DRG (Dickinson Robinson Group) was formed when John Dickinson and Company merged with ES and A Robinson, Bristol, creating one of the world’s largest stationery and packaging companies. By 1989, asset stripper Franklin acquired DRG (now including the Royal Sovereign Group in 1976)  in a leveraged buyout worth £900 million.