Weaving Shop. View of roof. Digital image of AN 4353

Description Weaving Shop. View of roof. Digital image of AN 4353

Date 22/4/1980

Catalogue Number SC 787441

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of AN 4353

Scope and Content Weaving shed roof at Upper Dens Works, Princes Street, Dundee This arched iron-ribbed roof is part of one of the weaving sheds in the factory which dates to 1839. The roof is supported on cast-iron pillars which can just be seen at the base of the picture. As this is the top floor of the building, the room is lit from above. The factory was where the linen yarn was woven into cloth using power looms, the first in Dundee. According to the manager, Peter Carmichael (d.1891), the factory held 216 looms. By 1864 Baxter's was the largest textile firm in Dundee - they employed 4,000 workers and had 1,200 power looms. Local people wanted to put their children on the waiting lists for jobs at Baxter's as it was thought to have good working conditions. The founder of the Baxters company, William Baxter (1766-1854), opened his first mill for spinning flax in 1822 in Lower Dens, Dundee. During the 19th century the company added other buildings to the complex, becoming the biggest manufacturers of linen in the world around 1840. They maintained this position for another 50 years. Due to the demise of the textile trade in Dundee many of the buildings were demolished in the 1980s. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/787441

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap