The second big change started in 1780 with the founding of Busby's first cotton mill. This was at Newmill, on Cartsbridge lands on the opposite side of the River Cart. Busby and Newmill each had several earlier mills. Busby itself had Busby Meal Mill at the end of Field Road (founded before 1300), and Busby Waulk Mill in the Glen.
|
|
Standing next to the Minishant Bridge over the Culroy or Polnatibber Burn the waulk or wauk's waterwheel was powered via a mill weir, lade and sluice arrangement. Andrew and James Limond at the mill advertised that they manufactured blankets, tweeds, plaidings, flannels, etc. It is shown on the OS map as being disused by 1894. The mill building survives, having become the village hall and later a private dwelling.
|
|
By the 17th century, Bonaly appears to have been thriving and is mentioned frequently in the Kirk Session records. In addition to the dwellings of the tenant farmers, there was a substantial farmhouse (c. 1650), several waulk mills, a skinnery, a distillery, a magnesia factory and a flax mill. These industries stood on the banks of the Bonaly Burn, which was used as a power-source, a supply of water and for carrying away waste.
|
|
Smug and Snug Victorian VillageAyrshire Sheet XXXIX.SW, Surveyed: 1908, Published: 1910 In 1894 a second steam-powered woollen mill, also owned by the Limond brothers, stood behind the row of cottages near the waulk mill sluice.Ayrshire, 039.10, Surveyed: 1894, Published: 1896 A short tramway incline with a waggon on a rope, known as the Bogey Line, transported coal up to the mill. The Bogey End on the Mains Street was where the coal was loaded into the waggon.
|
|
Before the reformation, the inhabitants of Glasgow used to grind their grain at either the Town Mill of Partick or at a nearby small mill belonging to Glasgow's Archbishop. By 1820, Partick was a major milling centre, with several located in its vicinity. These included: the Old Mill (on the site of the building now known as the Bishop's Mill), the Slit Mill, the Archbishop's Mill (later Bunhouse/Regent Mill), the Waulk Mill (now Scotstoun Mill) and the Wee Mill.
|
|
Scroaggy or Fairliecrevoch Mill was a waulk or cloth mill and existed until the 1960s, with its lade cutting across the large loop in the river near Ramstane. Downstream from Cunninghamhead was a sawmill and a corn mill existed in Perceton near the old church. Scroag or scrog is a crab apple or gnarled treestumps in old Scots and this 'nickname' well describes the area where the mill stood. A number of fords and stepping stones are present, notably at Chapeltoun, Lambroch Mill, and at Ramstane where a footbridge was also present.
|
|
Wool production has taken place at the Knockando site since at least the eighteenth century. William Roy's map of Scotland, dated 1749, depicts buildings at the site, and records from 1784 make reference to a waulk mill, operated by the Grant family at Knockando. The Grants and their mill are mentioned again in the 1851 census, which also records the presence of a wool carder, a spinner and a weaver on the site. By the 1860s, the mill was owned by Alexander Smith, who established the company A Smith and Son.
|
|
The mill waterwheel after a recent renovation There has been a mill on this site of Groatholm since the 14th century, set up by the monks of Kilwinning Abbey. The first mill was a waulk or fulling mill producing woollen cloth. Retting was carried out here in ponds next to the river, this process being a stage in the manufacturing of vegetable fibres, especially the bast fibres. It involves submerging plant stems such as flax, jute or hemp in water, and soaking them for a period of time to loosen the fibers from the other components of the stem.
|
|
Encyclopædia Britannica (1953). Vol.23. Pub. London. A whinstone at Dalgarven Mill, used for crushing Whin or Gorse for use as fodder for cattle Lying on the cobbles outside the original waulk mill and stables is a large oval sandstone object with metal attachments on its central axis. This was used to crush whin or gorse in a shallow trough, the stone being dragged up and down by a horse, making the spiny and tough branches of the plant suitable for use as animal feed. It was however only used if other sources of feed were lacking.
|
|
Culroy was once the name for all the land between the Brown Carric and the River Doon. The old Minishant Waulk Mill Minishant stands on the old Portpatrick to Ayr road, later a toll road with toll house at Carcluie and Hogg's Corner, but the village is not shown on maps until after 1828 although Colroy (sic) is marked in 1775.1747-55 - William ROY - Military Survey of Scotland In 1832 Culroy Bridge is recorded and Culroy has only a single building on the eastern side of the road indicated.John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland, 1832. Northern Part of Ayrshire.
|
|
Faifley's first industries were attracted to the area by the opportunity to harness the water-power provided by the Loch Humphrey Burn and the Cochno Burn. A waulk mill (mentioned in charters of 1643) and a dye works were in existence when William Dunn (1760–1849) purchased the Faifley Cotton Spinning Co in 1811. Dunn had four large cotton mills on the burn and introduced the first steam engines at Faifley by 1836, at which time he was employing 1,400 workers. The American Civil War resulted in a collapse of Britain's cotton trade with the US in the 1860s and led to the closure of all but one of the mills.
|
|