The Derwent valley played an important part in the industrialisation of the North, where the fast flowing river provided motive power to the emerging coal, lead and iron industries.

[1] writing in 1820 states, At Shotley-Bridge a colony of German Sword-cutlers, who fled from their own country for the sake of religious liberty, established themselves about the reign of King William.

These quiet settlers, who brought with them habits of industry, and moral and religious principle, easily mingled with the children of the dale, and forgot the language of their forefathers.

gave the High Mill when he purchased the property about thirty years ago, and commenced those improvements which his talented Sons have so laudably continued, and which have added so much to the richness and beauty of the whole landscape.

The lands adjoining their substantial and elegant residence, and the flourishing plantation grounds, used to be proverbially poor farms and sterile fields, scarcely worth any cultivation, but are now extremely luxuriant and productive, and in the highest stage of agriculture – so much can judicious management accomplish in a few years….The whole of the estate, which is now very extensive, the magnificent manufactories of the first order, the clear water ponds around the house and in the rich gardens, the woods, plantations, and groves on all sides, and the verdant meadows and lawns present a rare combination of the town's opulence and the country's simplicity and retirement, of commerce and agriculture embracing each other, and both retaining their respective advantages and rural attractions.In the early days of Annandale's mills, the paper was made largely by hand, sheet by sheet.

Conditions during this early period were described by one of the managers: As a lad I had to empty chests by myself with a grape or hand hook, my fingers would often bleed and my lungs often felt as though they were bursting with the fumes [bleach and vitriol] and the effort.

When a beater was emptied into the chest, a large hand bell was vigorously rung to warn the machine men to put more water on.

Despite this, the mill was noted to have the best-ventilated rag cutting room in the district[11] However, in the course of a few years, the industry was revolutionised by Fourdrinier's continuous paper-making machines.

Such a machine was installed at Shotley Gove, and in 1857 Fordyce[12] reported that the water wheels had largely been replaced by more powerful and reliable steam engines.

A further great impetus to the trade was provided in 1860, when William Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer, abolished the duty on paper, or as it was called, the "Tax upon Knowledge".

(The Bill was initially rejected by the House of Lords, as they believed cheap publishing would encourage the dissemination of radical working class ideas).

[16] In the last decade of the 19th century, the paper mills at Shotley Grove found it increasingly difficult to business began to compete with the much larger scale wood-pulp processes emerging elsewhere across Europe.