 
Steeped in tradition, FWP Matthews Ltd represents an important part of the local industrial heritage. Joint managing directors Paul and Graham Matthews are the great, great grandsons of Frederick Matthews who commissioned building the mill in the early twentieth century. The mill has been a source of support to the local community for many decades.
The company's history dates back to the 1860s when Marmaduke Matthews started a small business selling seeds from his barn in Fifield, Oxfordshire. With the death of Marmaduke, his son, Frederick expanded the business selling wheat and barley from the site near Shipton Station. Frederick, with his son, Frederick William Powell, (after whom the company was named see picture above), came to realise that it would make economic sense to mill locally grown wheat rather than importing it by rail. Sadly Frederick did not live to see the completion of the mill and it was passed to FWP Matthews. Built in 1911-12, by local builder Alfred Groves, the mill has changed little in appearance since its early days and still presents an imposing presence.
In the early years the company concentrated on milling biscuit flour using the soft wheat grown locally in the Cotswold hills. Customers were mainly Huntley and Palmers in Reading, Peek Frean in Bermonddsey and Jacobs in Dublin. Their flour was transported by rail in eight dedicated vans which were marked 'To be returned to Shipton Station'. The 25 yard journey from the mill to the rail siding was made by horse and cart each pulling 8 sacks (1 ton) of flour. In the mid sixties the market for biscuit flour decreased and the mill concentrated on milling bread flour for independent bakers. From the late 1990's the company focused on milling top quality flours from the best quality grain available. By 1992 FWP Matthews Ltd became certified by the Soil Association to mill organic flour and today around 70% of the mill's production is organic.
We are unique in that local farmers still deliver their wheat personally to the mill. Buying local grain and supporting the community is still of prime importance to the company.
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