Islay, Redhouses/Bridgend Woollen Mill

Date October 2019

Event ID 1124261

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1124261

This mill was built in 1883 is on the E bank of the river Sorn and consists of a rubble built, slate roofed, gable-ended main block with three storeys and a single-storey south wing. The mill was built and run by the Christie family until c.1981 when it was taken over by Mr Gordon Clovell and Mrs Shiela Clovell. The Christie family had originally operated out of the old mill adjacent to the current site which was roofless in the 1970s but has since been re-roofed by Mr Clovell.

The mill buildings have belonged to the Estate of the Morrison family since 1853 (later the Baronetcy of Margadale). The current Baron Margadale still owns a large portion of the island.

As in the 1970s, the primary interest is the historic machinery that although no longer used, show the traditional methods employed for processing the wool from its raw state. For details of the machinery, see Canmore record from 1974 survey. This survey included a layout of machinery and equipment some of which the last specimens of their kind to survive in Britain and were noted on the plans and their sequence of use.

A photographic and video survey was carried out at Bridgend Woollen Mill (also known as Redhouses) in 2019 due to the important historic machinery previously recorded by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) in the 1970s (also see Hay and Stell, 1984, 71-5). The subsequent change of ownership of the business and the machinery in the early 1980s has resulted in some changes taking place. Some machinery has been removed (Teasing Machine and Scribbler) whilst other machinery has been moved to different areas, whilst the Piecing Machine, Slubbing Billy and the Spinning Jennies (the largest and most important historically) are in the same position as in 1974.

The following observations were made during the 2019 survey:

Ground floor

•Low breast shot, iron water wheel with an unusual chain drive mechanism situated against the wall inside the south wing is now in a state of disrepair and could not be accessed on the date of visit

•Raw wool breaking: Teasing Machine - This machine was removed in the early 1980s to allow the installation of a retail area

•First carding: Scribbler to carry out first combing of the wool fibres to remove the initial coarseness - This machine was removed in the early 1980s to allow the installation of a retail area

•The two-cylinder Carder with a wooden frame - still in situ from which rovings (carded long lengths of fibres) would have been and cast onto a Piecing- machine to join into continuous strands or rovings

•Piecing- machine - to join into continuous strands or rovings is a recognised rare survivor – in 1967 only two known examples (both in museum collections) before this one was noted in the 1970s. This machine type was super-ceded by developments in carding technology but was noted as being in use into the 20th century. However, records are scarce

•There are two power looms in the weaving shed, but these have been replaced since 1979 (information from Mr Covell, 15 October 2019)

First Floor

•Slubbing billy on the first floor, rovings into a leaner yarn - the rovings are slowly unwound from the large bobbins on the standing-frame (at the back) and then spun by the fast-moving spindles on the carriage which is slowly dragged along its rails to maintain the tension.

•Spinning Jennies – these are rare and both survive in situ - The leaner rovings with the first twist were spun by the spinning-jenny - and during this operation the wool fibres were drawn out, or drafted in to a leaner yarn. Spinning jenny and then refined in a second jenny. The two spinning jennies, one of 102 spindles and the other of 118 spindles, were similar in design and operation to the slubbing billy, except that, being purely for spinning, the locking device was not necessary for the initial drafting of the yarn

•A warping beam frame was introduced by Mr Covell in 1980s which dates from 1903.

Second Floor

•Spun yarn into hanks on the 2nd floor where, of the machines mentioned in the 1970s survey, only one handloom survives.

South Range

•The dye house in the south range was flooded recently and is currently not accessible until Mr Covell can arrange to carry out work

•The cloth press in which the cloth was folded, weighted using a turn screw and heated to produce the ‘London Finish’ (typically) only partially survives in the south end of the south range. Mr Covell said it was incomplete when he took over the business in the early 1980s

Other

•The milling machine mentioned no longer exists on site

•The tenter frames mentioned in 1979 were not seen on the date of visit and may possibly have gone

•For full details of the machines in the 1970s, see: (http://orapweb.rcahms.gov.uk/apex/f?p=280:22:114001291284278::NO:RP,22:P22_NUMLINK,P22_CALLING_PAGE,P22_CALLING_SEARCH_SELECT,P22_CALLING_SEARCH,P22_CALLING_SEARCH_COUNT:37737,2,37737,%5C%20and%20(CONTAINS(m.NMRSNAME,%20%27%7BIslay%20Redhouses%7D%27,%201)%20%3E0%20%20OR%20CONTAINS(m.NMRSNAME,%27%25Islay%25%26%25Redhouses%25%27,%202)%20%3E0%20%20OR%20CONTAINS(m.ALTNAME,%20%27%7BIslay%20Redhouses%7D%27,%203)%20%3E0%20%20OR%20CONTAINS(m.ALTNAME,%27%25Islay%25%26%25Redhouses%25%27,%204)%20%3E0%20)%5C,5&cs=3Urmygd2QFcXuoESl3caATjvOmTDvmCGKh8oH-aNozdkExYB3wCeN1Zaw7izg343kf-2GtVUnmvnhyGMIMwMt4A)

Hay and Stell (1984)

Visited by Survey and Recording Section (M McDonald), Heritage Directorate, HES, October 2019.