View of the basement at Wellington Mills, Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth. Pulley systems with chains are attached to the roof with two supporting a trestle and ducting from the ceiling above. The mill was built in 1874 for John Oakey and Sons, founded in 1833 originally in Francis Street, Walworth. It then moved to a purpose-built factory on Blackfriars Road but, by 1872, needed to expand again. Oakey acquired additional land on Westminster Bridge Road, previously held by the Royal Female Orphan Asylum, and a large factory and mill was erected to the design of Messrs Parr & Strong at a cost of almost £15,000. The building subsequently became known as Wellington Mills. Oakey & Sons manufacturered glass paper, glass cloth, emery for grinding machines, emery cloth, black lead, india rubber knife boards and silversmiths soap. John Oakey died in 1887 and the business passed to his sons who continued on the site for four generations. Oakey products are still manufactured but in Staffordshire. The site is now the Wellington Mills Estate with modern housing.