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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Sunday, 1st August 2010

 
8 CANAL WAS THE KEY

Dickinson barge Lord Nelson by Red Lion bridge in 1895
WHEN John Dickinson came to Apsley in 1809 there were no trains, no buses, no cars - just horse drawn transport that relied on muddy and rutted roads.

But the mill sites Dickinson chose had one great transport plus - the Grand Junction (no Union in those days) Canal - our picture shows the Dickinson barke Lord Nelson by red Lion bridge in 1895.

And even though the London and North Western Railway was built close to his mills in the 1830s, it wasn’t until well into the 20th century that the railway played any significant part in the carriage of Dickinson’s products.
By the turn of the century Dickinson kept a fleet of steam barges which each carried about 25 tons.

They brought coal and other materials to the mills and carried away paper and stationery.

Every evening the boats left the mills at Aplsey, Nash and Home Park and arrived in London at the company’s warehouse, Irongate Wharf, Paddington where they would unload their products for onward shipment around the country and the world.
But the railway did begin to take its grip in the 20th century as Dickinson’s offices around the country grew.

Barges load at Apsley mill

Even so, in 1938 the canal was still a major transport route for the mills. Leslie Burgin the Minister of Transport of the time took a trip between Croxley and Apsley mills to see for himself.

He was looking at the possibility of further development of the canals and heard how raw materials, including esparato grass - used in the manufacture of paper - from Africa never touched dry land until it was unloaded from barges at the mills.

It was shipped from the shores of Africa and collected from the ships by barges in the Thames.


A scene in the sidings at Boxmoor station with a whole John Dickinson train
By the 1930s, Dickinson’s were more in favour of letting the train take the strain and were instrumental in persuading and helping the LMS to build Apsley Station which was opened on September 22, 1938.

A train carrying VIPs to the opening crashed through a huge screen of specially made Croxley paper carrying the emblems of Dickinson and the LMS.
Dickinson chairman Sir Reginald Bonsor was a passenger on the train and became the first person to have his ticket clipped at Apsley Station!

In a speech Sir Reginald thanked LMS for providing the station. It would be of great convenience to the thousands of workers at Apsley Mills and by relieving the pressure of traffic on the roads it would add to the safety of all workers.

The train may have got some extra passengers but the bus and bike remained the preferred transport for most employees and the A41 became a seething mass of humanity at the end of the working day as the buses queued to take the workers to their homes all around the district.

Increasingly after the war Dickinson lorries became a familiar sight on the roads.

To return to the John Dickinson introduction page, click below
 
 

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