Publication Account

Date 1986

Event ID 1017678

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017678

Monuments of Industry - an illustrated historical record

The paper mills of Thomas Tait & Sons Ltd., Inverurie, stand on the W bank of the River Don, and were first established in 1852.41 This tall rectangular tower dates from about 1890, and reflects an important early stage in the use of wood-pulp as a raw material in the paper-making process. The process was first exploited commercially in Sweden by C D Ekman, who may have supplied or influenced the design of the Inverurie tower. It was designed to produce calcium bisulphate, an acid liquor in which wood chips were boiled for pulping under pressure. From a tank at the top of the tower, water or milk of lime trickled down square lead-lined vertical shafts over a series of inverted V-shaped racks, which held lumps of limestone; at the base of the tower sulphur dioxide was blown in from pyrites burners which were specially constructed to keep down the combustion temperature, thus preventing the formation of sulphur trioxide and sulphuric acid.

The tower rises to a height of 92 ft (28.04m) and has a slightly tapering profile in the central section. The lowest 23 ft (7.01m) is constructed of coursed granite masonry, the remainder being of brick laid in English garden-wall bond. On plan at ground level it measures 27 ft 6 in (8.38m) by 19 ft (5.79m) overall. An original corbelled cornice encircling the top of the tower has been removed.

The interior was not accessible at the date of visit, but it is known that all original plant and fittings were removed before 1950 except, perhaps, the two horizontal egg-end cylinders standing near the base of the tower, which may have been part of the pulping plant. The top of the tower now houses two water-tanks for the mills.

Information from ‘Monuments of Industry: An Illustrated Historical Record’, (1986).