Moray HER - NJ14SE0029 - KNOCKANDO WOOLLEN MILL

Print site NJ14SE0029 Feedback on site NJ14SE0029

Main Details

Primary ReferenceNJ14SE0029
NameKNOCKANDO WOOLLEN MILL
NRHE Card No.NJ14SE20
NRHE Numlink 16056
HES SM No. NULL
HES LB No. 13624
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Complete 2
Details Waulk mill, dating to the early 19th Century. It is a small L-plan waulk mill, converted in circa 1870 to a spinning mill, with late 19th century lean-to additions forming the smallest possible vertically integrated woollen mill. The extensions in the late-19th century reflect the new ownership, when Alexander Smith bought the mill from the Grant family in the 1860s. From this time, the mill traded under the company A Smith and Son, which it traded under until 1975. With the introduction of electricity in 1948, the water wheel and lade system fell into disuse. However, the 19th century textile machinery is still in situ, still in use and is of specific historical interest, and it is now owned by the Knockando Mill Company who bought the mill in 1976. Restoration work was undertaken from 2010-2012, when some of the outbuildings were changed into visitor centres and office space. The main building is a 1- and 2 storey and attic rubble built carding and spinning mill, with corrugated iron roofs, although the wings had pantiles until circa 1980, and windows arrange to the North-East and North-West. The initial building was a 1-storey and attic rectangular-plan waulk mill, and the addition in the mid-19th century of a 2-storey carding and spinning mill gave it an L-shaped plan. The loft door is set within the gable to the North-West, and is surmounted by a gable apex stack. There is a late-19th century catslide infill to the re-entrant angle, with weather boarded sides and large multi-paned windows. There is an 1860s eight spoke cast-iron overshot wheel at the South-East elevation. It has a rubble-lined wheel pit, and is missing timber buckets and sole boards. There is a first floor window and a coped gable apex stack to the West elevation. A concrete weaving shed outshot to the East gable was added in circa 1885, however it had its gable end washed away in circa 1945 and was rebuilt in brick. The doors are timber boarded, and there are various timber sash and case windows and timber multi-paned windows with central top-hung ventilation panes. The interior has a continental carding set by Platt Bros, linked by Scotch Feed in the ground floor and weather-boarded outshot of the first building, probably in place of fuelling stocks. The card, hand fed piercing tray and bobbin winder in the attic are from the early-19th century. There is also a teasel gig in the ground floor. There is a Platt Bros condenser spinning self-acting mule in the single storey wing, and teasel gig and dolly washing machine in the out-shot. The machinery is powered by line shafting. The floors are timber, and the re-entrant angle is carried on timber posts. There is a weir to the West of the mill that feeds the lade from Knockando Burn. An earthenware pipe (penstock) is buried for 300 metres running East towards the mill. The pipe rises above ground-level near the mill, and is carried on a small embankment. The embankment ceases at a stone buttressed wall, whereupon the pipe is carried across the path to the North of the mill by a simple bridge onto a rubble abutment, turning sharply 90 degrees North-East and terminating alongside the South-East wall of the mill above the waterwheel. Tenter posts are located in a field to the West of the mill in the form of a timber frame that allows drying cloth to be stretched out. A winter drying shed is located to the South of mill. It is a square-plan single storey corrugated-iron shed, with timber slatted louvre openings and a mono-pitch corrugated-iron roof. Inside, there are fragmentary remains of circulating pipework at the floor level linked to a stove, and remains of timber tenter frames for drying cloth. A shop is located to the far South-East of the mill adjacent to Woolmill House, which was built in 1896. It is a small, square-plan single storey shop that is timber boarded and has a pitched grey slate roof. There is a 2-leaf timber 4-panelled door, and 4-pane timber sash and case windows to the North-East, and there is a small window to the South-West, at the far right. A small corrugated-iron lean-to at the rear formerly housed a carbide gas plant. Inside, there is timber V-groove panelling to the walls, with timber stock shelves running from floor to ceiling and remnants of gas piping. The water pipe, tenter posts, drying shed and all disused. There is also a disused timber-boarded outside lavatory, with its original wall mounted cast-iron water cistern surviving and a timber-boarded coalstore/toolshed to the South-West of the mill. The mill had a small croft associated with it of about 15 acres, and there are byres to the South-West of the mill. Throughout its history, both the mill and croft have supplemented each other providing a self-sufficient small scale rural settlement supplying the local community. It is the smallest textile mill in Scotland to retain its plant.
Last Update29/07/2022
Updated Bycpalmer
CompilerRCM
Date of Compilation 

Google Map for NJ14SE0029

National Grid Reference: NJ 1876 4255



Event Details

Event DateEvent TypeOASIS ID
2009 Building Recording

Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
STACKS APEXL100
PITSWHEELLINEDM100
SHEDSWEAVINGCONCRETEN100
WINDOWSSASH & CASE O100
MACHINESCARDING P100
FLOORSTIMBER Q100
FRAMESDRYING R100
WEIRS  S100
ABUTMENTSRUBBLE T100
SHEDSCORRUGATED-IRONSINGLE-STOREYU100
SHOPS SINGLE-STOREYV100
ROOFSSLATE W100
LEAN-TOSCORRUGATED-IRON X100
CROFTS  Y100
MILLSWAULK A100
MILLSWOOLLEN B100
ROOFSCORRUGATED-IRON C100
WINDOWS MULTI-PANEDD100
SETSCARDING E100
WHEELSCAST-IRONOVERSHOTF100
OUTSHOTS  G100
TRAYSPIERCING H100
WINDERSBOBBIN I100
MULESSELF-ACTING J100
MACHINESWASHING K100