Discover 300 Years of Paper Making
Early 1700’s
Henri Portal arrived in England and joined ‘The White Paper Makers Company of England’ at Stoneham Mills near Southampton.
1711-1717
Henri Portal took English nationality and changed his name to Henry. In the same period he set up his first mill, Bere Mill, in Whitchurch. The business subsequently transferred to Laverstoke Mill to increase capacity. Interestingly, Laverstoke Mill is now the home of Bombay Sapphire Gin .
1724
First order received from Bank of England (est. 1694). First watermarked paper supplied.
1809
Bathford Mill first makes paper (previously the factory made corn, cloth, leather, flour). Bathford Mill later advertises itself as making ‘the finest writing papers in the Kingdom’
1860
Portals wins the contract to produce paper for Indian Rupees
1912
Following a major fire in 1910, Bathford Mill reopens with a new paper machine – initially selling lightweight papers for bibles, dictionaries and encyclopaedias
1919
Portals’ introduces cylinder mould machines into papermaking process.
1938
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visit Portals
1939-1945
On September 3rd 1939, the Bank of England moved its whole operation to Overton including 1,200 staff and the banknote printing presses. They remained until 1945
1940
First banknotes with a security thread produced. Security paper with a thread is still considered to be one of the most effective ways of preventing counterfeiting today.
1972
Bathford Mill becomes part of the Portals business. The production of cylinder mould paper begins the next year.
1977
The Interpol Counterfeit Conference Resolution No. 9 (Madrid 1977) recommends that watermarks for banknotes should be: mould made, three-dimensional, multi-tonal, of adequate size & quality so that the subject is easily recognisable and not covered by printing.
1984
First windowed threads introduced. Portals pioneered the process where the thread appears on the surface at regular intervals, and a continuous thread is only visible when it can be viewed against the light.
1996
Platinum® launched – the first durable paper substrate – offering protection against soiling of banknotes
2003
Cornerstone® launched responding to the market need for a solution for folded corners on banknotes and passports
2004
Optiks™ thread launched – a ground-breaking development introduced the first 18mm wide threads into the market. The product subsequently won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation in 2013
2007
Following on from the very successful Cornerstone feature, Edgestone™ protecting the edges of banknotes and security documents against tears
2017
Textmark™ launched – enabling the addition of personalised bright and/or dark text in the watermark design
2018
Paper business sold by De La Rue with the Portals name resumed
Today
Portals sites produce more than 12 billion banknotes, 200 million brand labels, 70 million passports and 60 million certificates each year, for use in more than 100 countries around the world.
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