Now and then you come across a site that has lain derelict and empty for so long that it has almost disappeared back into nature. Folly Mill is so out of the way and hidden that you really have to seek it out. It was an opportunity for Mrs Tarboat to join the expedition and undertake her first exploration not in a public place. 
The mill was erected some time between 1780 and 1790 as a paper mill where the paper was made by hand with the rags pulped in a water driven "hollander". In addition to the mill there were two cottages on the site and as well as mill workers there was also an exciseman living there for many years to monitor the duty due on the paper. Production continued until 1867 by which time machine-made paper had rendered the site uneconomic. Production in later years appears to have been brown and blue glazed paper used by grocers and ironmongers for wrapping.
Since closure the mill has become increasingly derelict and fallen down bit by bit. Formerly three storeys high there is now only one wall of full height with much of the rest collapsed down to ground floor height. Everything is enveloped in trees and nettles but the wheelpit that once held a 16ft diameter waterwheel of about 11ft width can still be seen. This lost industrial building was lost in the woods and the only sounds that could be heard were birds and the nearby river.
Cottage remains
Cottage remains
Looking down from the cottages to the main mill building
This section of wall is not going to stand much longer
Archways in the end walls
Back wall of the main mill
The mill was erected some time between 1780 and 1790 as a paper mill where the paper was made by hand with the rags pulped in a water driven "hollander". In addition to the mill there were two cottages on the site and as well as mill workers there was also an exciseman living there for many years to monitor the duty due on the paper. Production continued until 1867 by which time machine-made paper had rendered the site uneconomic. Production in later years appears to have been brown and blue glazed paper used by grocers and ironmongers for wrapping.
Since closure the mill has become increasingly derelict and fallen down bit by bit. Formerly three storeys high there is now only one wall of full height with much of the rest collapsed down to ground floor height. Everything is enveloped in trees and nettles but the wheelpit that once held a 16ft diameter waterwheel of about 11ft width can still be seen. This lost industrial building was lost in the woods and the only sounds that could be heard were birds and the nearby river.
Cottage remains
Cottage remains
Looking down from the cottages to the main mill building
This section of wall is not going to stand much longer
Archways in the end walls
Back wall of the main mill
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Fabulous place, tarboat...my kind of explore. 
