A William & Mary Silver Tazza

Rushbrooks are delighted to present a William & Mary circular silver tazza, presented to Portals Limited by the Bank of England in 1962.

Portals Limited is a papermaking business, founded in 1711 by Henri de Portal, later Henry Portal, a Huguenot refugee from Poiters, France. Prior to Henry’s arrival in England as a boy, Britain’s paper requirements had been imported, but in 1686 a paper mill was established at South Stoneham, where young Henry found employment. Whilst there, he made the acquaintance of William Heathcote, 1st Baronet of Hursley, Hampshire, who assisted Henry in the acquisition of the lease of Bere Mill, near Whitchurch which is where the Portals papermaking business was founded. In 1718, the business headquarters moved to the nearby Laverstoke Mill, where the Portals headquarters remained for the next 200 years.

It was through William Heathcote that Portals obtained the contract to supply paper for the banknotes of the Bank of England in 1724. In 1901, the Portal baronetcy was created for the head of the family, a title which is still held by the present family. In 1922, Portals opened Overton Mill where papermaking continued and production at Laverstoke Mill ceased in favour of the more modern mill.

In 1962, Portals celebrated its 250th anniversary, for which the Bank of England presented the William & Mary silver tazza to Commemorate the event and acknowledge their longstanding relationship with Portals.

In 1972, Portals acquired Bathford Mill near Bath, and between Overton and Bathford Mills, Portals continued to operate as a family run business. In 1995, Portals was acquired by De La Rue and the Portals name ceased to be used. In 2018, De La Rue divested itself of its paper making activities, and the name Portals was again used for the newly independent business. The new business produced paper at its sites at Overton Mill and Bathford Mill. In July 2022, it was announced that Overton Mill would close, bringing to close an era of papermaking in the Hampshire village and consequent sale of the tazza.