 By 1587 the Wyndham estate had established a fulling and grist mill to the south west, on a farm called "Snailholt" (the site of today's paper mill factory), which was leased to Silvester Bickham.By 1652, the mill had started to produce some paper, which had been sold to John Saffyn of Cullompton, Devon.By 1727 the tenant of the mill was John Wood, the first of four generations of that family to work the mill until 1834.