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Summary

Description

Umpherston & Kerr, (Douglas Foundry, Dundee) 1833, East Mill. Hackling shops and warehouses in centre of complex and to E 1840 - 46 as part of a grand scheme by in-house architects/engineers. Thomson Bros (Douglas Foundry, Dundee), made some minor alterations in the 1860s and an engine house was later enlarged. Very large and self-contained flax spinning mills grouped around an inner and outer courtyard. Rubble-built with ashlar dressings, floors timber or fire-proof cast-iron framed. Buildings numbered according to 1967 insurance plan:

NORTH RANGE TO PATON'S LANE

W TO E:

50-53) WEST MILL: demolished 1995.

46, 48, 49) EAST MILL: Umpherston & Kerr, dated 1833. 3-storey and attic, 3 by 8 bay fireproof spinning mill, extended by 5-bays to W 1840, and heightened to match by Thomson Brothers in 1856.

Elevation to yard: ornamental cast-iron stair curves up a 9th bay to 1st floor gabled entrance. Twin arched windows at ground level. Stair added 1840, replacing original stair tower and intended to be paired symmetrically with an unbuilt stair in front of West Mill. Wrought-iron trussed timber chute housing Archimedes Screw links attic with mid hackling range. 1833 datestone. Cornice.

N ELEVATION: 4-stage square-section tower projects at NE angle. Engine house (see below) adjoins to E. Band course. Piended slate roof with long skylights. Windows sash and case, 12-pane glazing pattern (original multi-pane astragals removed).

INTERIOR: cast-iron columns with curved brackets carry cast-iron beams with eyelets at spinning floors (without either feature in the 1865 addition). Brick-arched floors and wrought-iron ties. Plastered collar-beam roof with cast-iron columns and wrought-iron ties, probably heightened circa 1865. N gallery on 2 tiers of cast iron columns with ornate brackets.

45) ENGINE HOUSE: advanced from E end of Mill, 1833, blocked arched door. Brought forward to an L-plan circa 1880 - 90 with tall arched windows to S. Piended slate roof. Rich timber-boarded ceiling, partly coved.

CHIMNEY STACK: cylindrical brick-built on a square rubble-built base. Reduced to eaves height of East Mill.

44) BOILER HOUSE: to S. Single storey with steep pitched slate roof and louvered ridge ventilator. Wide span timber roof and pulleys for boiler dampers inside. Poor condition (1990).

DOUBLE BEAM ENGINE HOUSE: between boiler-house and East (1846) hackling shop. 2 tall rubble built walls tied by 6 cast-iron beams of inverted T-section. Lean-to roof below beams of W engine house. Apparently never house beam engines and never roofed.

55) NE WAREHOUSE AND HACKLING BLOCK: dated 1846, symmetrical 2-storey with basement and low attic, 12-by 3-bay building, windows segmental-arched at 1st .. Round-arched doors at end, that to E with modern loading bay added. Later tower projects from centre of N elevation. Stair at E adjoins cooper's shop.

Piended slate roof. Windows sash and case, 12-pane glazing pattern.

INTERIOR: timber floors on lengthwise timber beams and cast-iron columns of 2 types. Spine dividing wall. Attic arched braced timber roof.

56) DOMESTIC BUILDING, LATER THE COOPER'S SHOP, TO E: 2-storey with later heightened attic (linked to hackling shop by outside stair) 3-bay building with central door. Slate roof with skylight. Windows blocked. Interior gutted, floor removed.

MID RANGE, W TO E:

33) FLAX WAREHOUSE: (with gable to main entrance) 1828 blind single-storey, raised to 2-storey and given fireproof floor circa 1850 - 65. 2 1st floor windows to S elevation. Single storey section with blocked segmental arched pend entrance rebuilt circa 1850 on site of old hackle shop.

32) COUNTING HOUSE: adjoins N elevation, circa 1830, later raised from 1 to 2-storey, having smaller openings at ground floor than at 1st. Piended slate roof. Brick-built stack. Windows sash and case, 16-pane glazing pattern at 1st.

34-42) 3-STOREY HACKLING BLOCK WITH GROUND FLOOR FLAX AND TOW WAREHOUSES AND MECHANICS' SHOP: adjoining old flax warehouse to S. 22-bays built in 2 phases, circa 1833 and 1845. 16 regular bays to N with small square windows at 1st and 2nd floors. Ground floor mainly blind. Pend at 9th bay with loading door over to yard. Timber chute housing Archimedean screw links hackling to spinning floor at East Mill. Stone cantilevered forestair to yard added 1845 leads to 6 bay section with differing first and second floor levels.

Roofs slate, piended and gabled. Windows sash and case at ground floor, fixed or casement above, 2 and 12-pane glazing pattern.

INTERIOR: Timber floors on lengthwise beams, timber posts and cast-iron columns. Evidence of hand hackling berths. Collar-beam roof.

43) 2-STOREY FORTRESS-LIKE WAREHOUSE AND HACKLING BLOCK OVER DEEP GROUND FLOOR COAL YARD: adjoins to E, 2-storey but to same 3-storey wallhead height as hackling block to W.

S ELEVATION: ground floor segmental-arched doors and some windows. 1st floor 3 loading doors, probably later. 2nd floor blind with projecting iron brackets. High coped parapet.

ELEVATION TO YARD: 2-storey 5-bay narrow hackling block opposite engine house. Yard terminates with broad ground floor segmental arch carrying twin Romanesque blind arcade.

Elevation adjoining boiler house: remarkably wide (15' 9" span arches) segmental arcade braced by cast-iron on slim stone piers.

Extraordinary single pitched roof over deep coal yard at W end, sloping from S to N (originally with valley) and very steeply pitched roof over narrow hackling block.

INTERIOR: ground floor fireproof. Cast-iron columns, beams and wrought-iron ties to style of Umpherston & Kerr. 1st floor timber posts support roof slope.

Statement of Special Interest

The largest mills in Angus outside Dundee, having in 1864 12,000 spindles operated by 800 employees and driven by steam engines of 120 hp. Only 3 Dundee mills then had more spindles. J & G Paton started spinnning in 1828, acquired limited liability in 1899 and closed in 1967. Chapel Works then became the bond of George Morton and Sons, whisky and rum blenders and bottlers, formerly of Dock Street, Dundee. The Mid hackling range has its parallel only in the N range of the Coffin Mill, Dundee, but there the windows are more conventionally sized and there are no blind walls carrying single-pitch roofs. The other similar hand hackling blocks in Scotland-Broadford and Grandholm Mills, Aberdeen, and Dens Works, Dundee - were demolished long ago. East Mill was intended to form part of a grandiose 24-bay symmetrical mill with an engine house at each end and a regular range of hackling and storehouses opposite. The architect's drawings are signed John Street, Montrose 1845. The forestair and the widening of West Mill are relics of his scheme. Perhaps the railway mania crisis of 1845 put paid to the proposals. Instead further development came with lower warehouse and hackling buildings to theW. The next new spinning mill with profits gained in the American Civil War was to an elongated utilitarian single storey design. Few changes have been made since, making this amongst the best preserved large mills in Scotland. Many windows now boarded-up (1998). A Group with Eastern Road and Marine Avenue, Chapel Works or Bond, Marine Avenue Mill and Front office and Eastern Road and Paton's Lane, Chapel Works or Bond, East Warehouse.

References

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