Interior. View of cast-iron roof trusses and columns with gothic shaped wooden infills central section on top floor of main building. Digital image of A 38494

Description Interior. View of cast-iron roof trusses and columns with gothic shaped wooden infills central section on top floor of main building. Digital image of A 38494

Date 3/1986

Catalogue Number SC 787416

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of A 38494

Scope and Content Top floor of main building of the Tay Works, No 2 Lochee Road, Dundee This is a detail of the central section on the top floor of the block built to link the two mills. The Gothic-style roof, the trusses which support the roof and the columns are all made from cast iron, a fireproof material. From the 1830s onwards cast iron was frequently used in the construction of textile mills in Dundee, although it had been used locally as early as 1807. The use of cast iron was very suitable for flax and jute mills because it meant that the building was strong enough to support the heavy spinning frames required for these fibres. Also, the jute and flax spinning frames did not move during yarn production, unlike cotton and wool spinning frames, so fixed columns were not a problem. The Tay Works in Lochee Road, Dundee, began as a business in 1849 when the Gilroy Brothers bought several mills from a bankrupt flax spinner. The works was extended further with the building of other mills and factories between 1851 and 1881. By 1877 Gilroy Sons & Co was the second biggest jute manufacturer in the world. By the 1970s the jute industry had declined, and in 1986 much of the Tay Works was converted into student residences. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/787416

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap