The story of Robert Fletcher & Sons paper mill dates back to the 1830’s as a young Robert Fletcher entered the business “Ralph Crompton & Nephews” who were at the time bleachers & papermakers in Stoneclough.
Robert worked his way up through the business eventually becoming the manager of the bleaching department and later the manager of the entire mill. The Crompton family held Robert in high regard and as such Roger Crompton (the last of the brothers), left Robert the trusteeship and an option of succeeding him in the firm.
Image courtesy of Jimmy99Following the death of Roger Crompton, Robert controlled the business for many years until he passed away in 1865 and was succeeded by his sons John & James Fletcher, who were in turn succeeded by their own sons, John Fletcher and Robert Fletcher.
The firm was incorporated as a limited company in 1897 and employed about 200 people at their Stoneclough base, later opening a second site in Greenfield in 1921. The Greenfield mill specialised in producing cigarette paper and had sales offices in London & Manchester, as well as agencies in many foreign countries. The business also owned lots of land around the Greenfield mill, several hundred acres apparently. 
Image courtesy of Jimmy99Robert Fletcher & Son Ltd steadily built a solid worldwide reputation for quality and reliability, the Greenfield site alone had a turnover of almost £18million by 1997 but just two years later that figure dropped to just over £8million.
Image courtesy of Jimmy99The following year, in an effort to rescue the business, the original Stoneclough site was closed, with the intention of opening up more jobs at the Greenfield site. Unfortunately the business continued its financial downturn and could not be saved. In July of 2001 disgruntled creditors formally applied to have the business wound up and staff about to start the morning shift were ordered to collect their belongings and leave the site.
Image courtesy of Jimmy99
To this day the mill at Greenfield still remains how it was the day it closed. Streams of paper remain inside the machines, connected to the rolls of finished product at the end of the production lines – a time capsule from a bygone era.
Image courtesy of Jimmy99Visit Saddleworth contacted Purico which owns the site of the Robert Fletcher & Sons paper mill (and also the neighbouring Dovestone Holiday Park) and was advised that the site of the mill is of strategic importance. Whether that means Dovestone Holiday Park will be expanded or not remains to be seen.
You can see a full video tour of the derelict mill below from urban explorers "Urbandoned".
