Castle Silk Mills

Event ID 1085378

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1085378

The Castle Silk Mills were incorporated into the North British Rubber Company. William Casey & Co took advantage of the water supply from the canal to establish the Castle Silk Mills, spinning ‘yarn from silk waste’ in 1836-7, a process that continued under several operating names until 1845-6, based on entries in the Post Office Directories.The New Statistical Account (1845) states that 'A silk mill was established some years ago in the vicinity of the city of Edinburgh, but it had not been successful'.It therefore appears that the silk mills had failed as a concern by 1844-5, and is shown on the Ordnance Survey 1st Edition 1:1056 map of 1852 as ‘Disused'. Due to the mill’s failure, an auction of the site and machinery was announced on 7th April 1845. The auction notice pointed out that the mills had been 'erected in the years 1836 and 1837'. While emphasising the closeness to transport links (100 yards from Port Hopetoun Basin on the Union Canal, less than 'half a mile distant' of the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway, 2.5 miles from Leith, and the proposed North British Railway due to be completed the following year) it is also pointed out that with little rearrangement and cost it could be converted to flax production. The site was advertised as steam powered – a chimney is depicted to the west of the main buildings on maps – and could accommodate 350-400 workers.

The Ordnance Survey 1st Edition 1:1056 map of 1852 shows a U-shaped building with entry to the five-acre complex from what became Gilmore Park and what appears to be a rather grand entrance within the courtyard with a double flight of stairs. This was probably the engine house. The auction particulars describe Castle Silk Mills as a ‘half of an oblong quadrangle’, built of freestone, with the 'engine-house detached in the centre of it'. The sales particulars also state that another range could be added to ‘complete the square’. The north side is noted as being five-storeyed-plus-attic, while the east and south sides are three-storeyed-plus-attic, with each storey being 11 feet in height. The machinery within the complex is listed, including the makers’ names. The site was obviously not sold, for there is an 'adjourned sale' advertisement in the Glasgow Herald of 7th May 1847, where the whole site and contents are being offered at a suggested price of £10,500.60 The site was still lying empty in June 1853 when another auction took place to dispose of machinery not sold in earlier sales.

In Scotland, silk textile production was mostly concentrated in Renfrewshire, especially Paisley. There is little evidence of purpose-built silk processing mills in Scotland thus making the Castle Mills unusual both in scale and function, especially as it was being built at a time of economic depression. It constituted a major capital investment in a brand of textile which was always precarious due to the difficulties of sourcing silk. Shortly afterwards, the silk industry in the UK went into terminal decline during the second half of the 19th century due to silkworm disease hitting supply, along with more readily available imported silks from the Far East.

A Adamson, L Kilpatrick & M McDonald (2017)