Field Visit
Date 1974
Event ID 545731
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/545731
(Location cited as NO 114 328). Stanley Mills (cotton), founded 1785 by George Dempster, Graham of Fintry, Sir Richard Arkwright and others. They consist of three blocks forming a U. The oldest is the 5-storey and basement, 3- by 13-bay Bell Mill (1790), with a stone base, brick superstructure and a bellcote. The internal wooden through-beam structure has been strengthened with cast-iron columns. Next oldest is a 5-storey, attic and basement, 20-bay rubble block (East Mill) of c. 1840, and the two are linked by a 3-storey and attic 22-bay rubble building (Mid Mill) with a projecting semicircular stair tower, rebuilt c. 1850 after a fire in 1848.
There are various 1- and 2-storey ancillary buildings, including a 2-storey and attic 15-bay office and workshop block, with a 1-storey and attic 17-bay extension terminating in a single-storey 3- by 3-bay Gothic cottage. There is a neat circular gatehouse with an ogee roof and circular chimneys (c. 1876), an octagonal wooden summerhouse with an ogee roof, on the site of a gasholder, and a circular turbine house (also with an ogee roof) now gutted. Beside the turbine house is a shed containing a 2-cylinder Ruston & Hornsby diesel engine. The lade system (NO13SW 43.01) is interesting, with its rock tunnel.
The mill now spins cotton and synthetic fibres.
J R Hume 1977.
