RCAHMS Industrial Survey description of Kinauld Leather Works

Date 1 May 2008 - 2 June 2008

Event ID 579335

Category Recording

Type Standing Building Recording

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/579335

2009 Industrial Survey

Kinauld Leather Works, Currie

(See RCAHMS DC 51317, DC 51318, MS/6057)

Introduction

Kinauld Leather works (NT 17550 67387) sits in the valley of the Water of Leith at Currie on a site measuring approximately 149m in length by 56.5m in breadth. The site has been a papermaking site since the 18th century (1). Kilgour and Paterson were at Balerno Mill site in 1825 (2) and one George Laing appears in the Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories as operating at ‘Balerno Mill’ from 1832/3 (3) and the site is noted as having two paper machines and two vats in 1832. (4) The site is listed as a paper manufacturing site until 1881/1882. (5) The Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory does not list Balerno Mill in the period 1882-1904, suggesting that either the site lay empty or in use but not listed in the Directories for the period.

Balerno Mill is named and depicted on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1895, sheet VI.8) as 'disused'. The complex is subsequently depicted and named as 'Balerno Mill (Gelatine and Glue)' on the 2nd and 3rd (Provisional) editions of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1907, sheet VI.8 and 1913, sheet VI.8), although there is no mention in the Edinburgh and Leith Directories of glue and gelatine production after 1907/1908. (6) Balerno Mill was then rented by J Hewit and Sons from 1913 to provide more space for the tanning and dressing of hides, when it was renamed Kinauld Leather Works. The Company bought the building in 1919 (see MS/6057). (7)

The site was recorded by RCAHMS primarily due to its uniqueness as a leather dressing and tanning site and in response to medium term re-development threat.

The Buildings

The Kinauld buildings show distinct phases, although the footprint now is more or less as shown on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1895, sheet VI.8) apart from the building at NT17536 67380. The main building provides an ‘anchor’ to all the other buildings around it. Early elements of the Kinauld Leather works complex are the 'Pig Store' and the 'Dry Store' (ground floor) with Administration offices above and the Main Building. There has been a paper mill on this site since before 1810. (8)

Dry Store/ Administration Block (NT1752 6737)

The Dry store appears on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1855, sheet V), and possibly dates, along with the Pig Store, from the earlier paper mill period. This two-storey and attic building is of rubble with dressed quoins and window openings. It appears to be earlier than the Pig Store as there is a splayed window opening in the SW elevation which now provides ingress to the Pig Store area (see DC 51317). The later, covered Tanyard butts onto its SE elevation. The SE external double door which shows extensive re-working has a rolled steel joist inserted above and opens into the later internal space of the Tanyard, although this appears in a undated post-1913 photograph of the Tannery (see DP049718, copy of photograph owned by Mr Robin Barlee, Managing Director of J Hewit and Sons). There is a blocked doorway on the N elevation at ground floor level with a symmetrical arrangement of windows either side. There appears to be blocked window openings flanking the ingress to the Pig Store at the S end, although the blocking cannot be seen in the Dry Store due to the brick wall lining of the interior.

The interior walls have a one brick-thick (0.11m), white-painted ‘skin’. Bricks from the Etna Brickworks (9) were seen and so date this building work to during the Darney or Hewit occupation of the buildings. The E wall has had a hole ‘punched’ through the brickwork which showed that there is a void behind the brick skin wall with the masonry gable wall beyond. There are also remnants of an engine stance at the E end of the area. It is unclear how this related to the function of this building prior to its use as a store for chemicals used in the de-hairing process, or indeed if it dates from the pre-1913 paper mill or glue and gelatine mill periods of the site’s history. There is a concrete, in-filled open drain in the concrete skimmed floor which runs the length of the Dry Store in a NE/SW orientation. The upper floor is used as administrative offices. Surviving tongue and groove woodwork suggests a 19th century non-process interior.

An undated sketch drawing (possibly from the 1950s, see MS6057/1) shows‘Pits’ adjacent to the Dry Store at NT1752 6737. These may have been related to leather processing and occupied the flat area between the Lade and the Dry Store (see MS6057/1).

The current two-storey, harled, brick-built access and canteen block between the Dry Store/Administration area and the main building is a mid-20th century addition and does not appear on the 3rd (Provisional) edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire,1913). There was an open gangway (DP049714; DP049718) in this area connecting the current administrative area above the Dry Store with the current first floor Front Finishing area. There was also an open stair from the first floor of the N gable of the Dry Store to the level area between the lade and the Dry Store at NT 1753 6737 (MS/6057). It is not possible to date this more accurately, although it allowed access to the Tanyard (after 1913) and the settling pits into which liquid containing solid wastes from the washing, de-hairing, baiting and tanning processes were probably run.

Pig Store

The Pig Store appears on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1855, sheet V), and possibly dates, along with the Dry Store, from the earlier paper mill period. This single storey rubble and brick building has been remodelled. Originally, Hewit’s used a lot of pig skins but pig skins have not been processed at Hewit’s for a number of years, but the name has continued in use. The five original splayed window openings in the rubble-built NW elevation are now blocked, two of them with brick. This suggests the need for light in what was probably a work area and not a storage area. The E elevation has had brick infill where originally there were wooden panels with windows (see DP049718, copy of photograph owned by Mr Robin Barlee, Managing Director of Hewit and Sons). This appears to have happened after 1913, as the undated photograph of the Tannery shows the original wooden and glazed walls between the masonry pilasters (see DP049718) suggesting use as a drying or ventilation area. The post -1913 photograph (DP049718) also shows a different configuration of the double door on the E elevation, showing a brick wall parallel with the current entrance N end suggesting a covered ingress.

The SE gable wall has been rebuilt using brick and the building has been re-roofed in corrugated iron (see DP029789). The building joints of the ‘Pig Store’ where it butts onto the ‘Dry Store’ are poor and the building is orientated slightly differently to the ‘Dry Store’ (see DC 51317). There is a partially in-filled hole the width of the masonry wall on the W elevation (see MS/6057). This could indicate the existence machinery coming into the building (perhaps a water wheel axle). A sketch drawing (MS6057/1) shows a sluice from the lade at the S end of the Pig Store suggesting that water was diverted past the Pig Store and on through the Main Building to the tail race, perhaps serving the ‘Pits’ shown on MS6057/1. These ‘Pits’ post-date the building of the Dry Store as they would hamper ingress into the Dry Store on the W side where a doorway has been blocked.

Tanyard

The covered Tanyard area was possibly adapted by J Hewit and Sons from a structure already in existence (see 2nd and 3rd (Provisional) editions of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1907 and 1913, sheet VI.8). It post-dates the Dry Store (see DC51317). It was originally open on the Water of Leith to the south east (see DP049715) from 1913 (when the site was taken over by J Hewit and Sons) until the mid-late 20th century and was served by a railway track until at least 1935 (see DP049715). The hides would have been moved from the Pig Store to the Tanyard for processing especially liming or dehairing and fleshing. Map evidence (2nd and 3rd (Provisional) editions of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1907, sheet VI.8 and 1913, sheet VI.8) and an undated sketch (MS/6057/1) show structures in the area below the open gangway (which ran at first floor level from the Dry Store/Office area to the Main Building). The sketch shows what could be a covered area but the evidence is unclear. The Tanyard originally ran from NT17544 6737 to NT17569 6740 and was extended to NT17534 67365 sometime in the mid-20th century and enclosed to SE at some point post-1946. (10) It appears on a 1963 aerial photograph with its current roof expanse (11). There are four hide process drums in place that are still in use, each driven by its own electric motor.

Main Building

The main mill is a 7-by-3 bay, five-storey building (see DC51318) and pre-dates all other buildings butting onto it, although the relationship between it and the Dry Store (and Pig Store) is unclear. The paper mill owner was noted as residing at the mill in 1832 (12) and it could be that the current Dry Store served this purpose at one time. There is surviving original glazing on all elevations except the NW. There is masonry visible at the exterior NW corner of the main building where the ‘harling’ has fallen away. Internally, the building is masonry to first floor level with a brick upper three- storey structure with the louvered wooden elements (‘drying lofts’) common to paper mills and tanneries and used for ventilation and drying.

There is one row of columns on each of floors 1-4. Floor one has cast iron columns while floors 2-4 have wooden columns and floors. The ground floor S end of the building is currently used for leather dyeing but is originally the space accommodating the waterwheel and where the launder entered the paper mill site. The walls of this area are completely of rubble masonry. There is evidence of arched openings on the E and S elevations at basement level which have been in-filled. There are also arched openings which have been in-filled (at a later date with brick) visible behind the internal hoist on the original outer wall of the Main Building shared with the current Mechanics Shop. These allowed access to the waterwheel and waterwheel pit area. This area is now concreted over and is the dyeing and glass toggling (drying) area for goat and calf skin pelts. The current area of the Dye House, where the vegetable dyes are stored, held the batteries run from the waterwheel for heating, lighting and so on. (13)

The ground floor currently accommodates Shaving, Dyeing, Drying, and Maintenance. The first Floor is 'Front Finishing' (spraying, drying, graining machinery etc.) with a mezzanine floor housing the laboratory and product sample room (according to Mr Barlee, there was a glue vat in this area when Hewit’s took it over dating from the Darney use of the site and so this may date from the early 1900s). The Main Building first floor has a substantial head room suggesting belt drives were required. There is evidence for a belt drive surviving at the N end (see MS 6057/5/44-5). The second Floor is the Main Warehouse (orders and hide measuring machine) and the third Floor or 'Crust Warehouse' is where sorting and grading of hides takes place. The attic floor is known as the 'Top Flat' and is used for drying hides at its NW end and was probably the original paper drying loft. (14)

Back Finishing and Hot Room

At first floor level, 'Back Finishing' (above ground floor shaving area) contained glazing machines and spraying equipment for white hides and the 'Hot Room' (above the ground floor area containing a boarding and air cutting machine), are accommodated in two storey masonry and brick built buildings butting onto the Main Building (DC 51317 and DC 51318). These have masonry ground floor area and common wall with the Main Building and a later brick upper storey. Overlying the mill lade intake area, a brick and steel joist over-bridge allows ingress to the SW ground floor door (current despatch area).

Main Building: Waterwheel

This probably dates from the paper mill period, possibly from 1860s on when all-iron wheels became more common. This could replace an earlier wooden or part wooden wheel, but this is difficult to prove without a fuller investigation of the wheel pit area beyond that which was accessible. The wheel was dismantled, the wheel arms cut down and the shrouds removed and the axle covered over (see DC 51319) after the hoist was converted from water power to electricity before 1960 (information from Mr Barlee). The launder would have approached the wheel as an overshot arrangement and would have entered the main building current ground floor level above head height.

When the site was a paper mill, the power generated by the wheel would possibly have been used to power machinery for tearing up of cotton rags (beaters or Hollanders), operating paper machines on the floor(s) above (mechanised fourdrinier-style machines were introduced during the early 1800s and gathering momentum throughout the 1820s) and drying rolls (first mechanised in the 1820s). (15) Balerno Mill is listed as having two vats and two paper machines by 1832, one of only five out of the 52 paper mills in Scotland that had both vats and machines. (16)

The wheel was possibly overshot, around 10 ft in diameter (3.05 m) and 13 feet 12 inches (4.0 m) in width. It is unknown what machinery may still survive beneath the drying and glassing areas on the ground floor. The wheel looks rather substantial for this process as other mills such as Chelsea Paper Mill (1800) had a modest waterwheel to operate the Hollander machines. (17) In the period of leather working, there was belt-driven machinery in the dyehouse and shaving area (see DP049715) suggesting that Hewit’s may have utilised the water power for some time to operate fleshing, baiting, tanning equipment, dyeing drums, glazing machines, boarding machines, staking machines and so on.

The Waterwheel Pit

The waterwheel pit is of dressed masonry (see MS6057/6) and measures 2.4m in depth. It was not possible to investigate the possible survival of water wheel machinery either side of the pit as the wheel pit is sealed. There is no other ingress into the basement areas to the W and E of the accessible wheel pit.

Chimney

The square chimney is probably original and was possibly freestanding. The buildings around the chimney, although their footprint already shown on the on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1895, sheet VI.8) and having masonry at ground floor level, are butting onto it. The current boiler house (NT1754 6740) is post-1915 in date (see DP049714) and dates from the Hewit occupancy.

Lade

The Lade (now in-filled, originally 15 feet (4.6m) in width) has its origin at NT1722 6719. Sluices and a Weir (NT1720 6719) are depicted on the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25-inch map (Edinburghshire, 1895, sheet VI.8). This lade also supplied the 'Old Distillery' (NT1732 6722) finally entering the mill at NT 17531 67391, to the NE of the Pig and Dry Stores. Evidence of the original masonry arch (one of three) over the launder from the Lade is visible on the SE elevation of the main building at the junction with the 20th century Canteen Building (see MS/6057).

The tailrace is depicted as emerging from the mill buildings at NT1757 6741 and entering the Water of Leith at NT1774 6743 via a weir at NT1773 6743. Only part of the tailrace now survives (Current Ordnance Survey map, 1:10000, NT1767). There is a small fragment surviving of the cast iron penstock/lade (see DC 51317). The land on the riverward side of the Lade has been displaced against the Pig Store, which obscures the original topography of the site and the lower part of its W wall. A sketch drawing held at J Hewit and Sons shows a sluice at the S end of the Pig Store (NT1749 6735) with a brick and iron dam adjacent (MS6057/1).

An undated sketch drawing (see MS/6057/1) shows ‘railway track’ bounding the site to the SW and E, and via a spur, serving the Pig House and crossed the lade at NT1749 6734.

PROCESS AND EXPLANATION: Preparation, Tanning, Shaving, Finishing for mostly Calfskins and Goatskins at J Hewit and Sons in 2008.

The processes involved in turning skins into fine leather are: De-hairing, Fleshing, De-Liming, Baiting, Lifting, Scudding, Pickling, Pre-tanning, Tanning, Sammying, Drying, Grading, Shaving, Dyeing and Finishing. See MS/6057, DC51317 and DC51318 and RCAHMS photography.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the following at J Hewit and Sons for their help:

Martin Kedslie – finishing

Richard Harkins – currying and tanning

Raymond Ferguson – currying, tanning and dyeing

Charles Ferguson - maintenance

Paul Nenton - dyehouse and glass

Roger Barlee – manager (direct descendant of J Hewit)/production chemist

Glossary of terms

Term Definition

Aldehydes Preservative which increases the leather’s resistance to having the tanning material washed out e.g. chamois leather which is treated with raw cod oil which is oxidised during the tanning process.

Aniline Leather

High quality leathers treated with aniline as a dye which renders the leather soft and supple.

Baiting Addition of bacterial enzymes removes muscle fibres and further softens the skins.

Crust Term referring to skins being stiff having had a basic tannage applied and minimal oil.

Crust Warehouse Area where the skins are sorted after being dried.

Crusting out Drying of hides.

Dehairing Also referred to as LIMING: Cleaned skins still have the hair on. This has to be removed along with the hair roots and epidermis. This exposes the grain layer which is needed for the leather produced by J Hewitand Sons. No damage is done to the collagen (dermis) part of the skin. The soaking liquors have to be kept alkaline. Liming also causes two physical effects: swelling and plumping of the skins allowing the penetration of tanning chemicals at a later stage.

Deliming Reduction of alkalinity. As the skin is neutralised by the addition of ammonium chloride, the skin de-swells and the keratin and inter-fibrillary proteins are washed out.

Drum Processing vessel used in tanning industry. Cylindrical structure mounted horizontally. The axles are hollow to allow addition of tanning and other chemicals. The drum has pegs set into its wall interior which catch and agitate the hides as the drum turns.

Finishing This collectively involves, dyeing, slickering, measuring, glazing and staking. Different finishing processes are required for different hides.

Fleshing The fat and tissue adhering to the underside of a skin acts as a barrier to the penetration of chemicals at a later stage. The mechanical fleshing operation removes the flesh and relaxes the skins as well as aiding in the removal of remaining hair roots.

Glazing Machine A machine which smooths hide edges by using a spinning glass roller against a smooth plat surface.

Horse Object onto which hides are loaded (or ‘Horsed up’) to allow fixation of tannin.

Horse up Involves removing the skins from liquor (lifting) and putting on a ‘horse’ to allow fixation of the tannin.

Lifting See Horse up

Mineral tans Compounds of chromium, zirconium, aluminium and iron and gives a high degree of stability to the leather.

Pickling Dissolves fatty tissue adhering to hides prior to tanning.

Sammying Machine Also known as setting out: Used on all hides This machine has a blunt helical blade and rollers to remove creases and re-shape the hide.

Scudding Final process prior to tanning involving the manual removal of hair root, skin pigmentation and surface fats from the skins. J Hewit and Sons is one of the last leather working establishment in the UK to carry out this process by hand.

Shaving (Machine) Carried out on wet skins, which are set out to remove creases in a setting out machine. The shaving machine uses a rollers and a helical blade on a cylinder to shave the minimum from a skin to ensure consistent thickness throughout. The machine contains a grinding stone and an impeller to ensure the skin does not get tangled.

Slickering Hand slickering is used on delicate leathers: the leather is wrapped round a ‘slicker’ or blunt blade and pushed along a smooth table.

Sorting or grading: Important for the profitability of a tannery. The grader looks for flaws in the skins, some of which only are visible after processing

Staking Mechanically softening skins using a staking machine.

Synthetic tan Use of synthetic chemicals to mimic naturally occurring tans.

Tanning Treatment of pelts/hides to ensure that putrefaction is halted. Proteins in skins dissolve when skins are in a wet state. This hydrolosis takes place in the pre-tanning stage. A tanning agent then, maintains mobility and flexibility of the leather after drying and to modify the skin protein to make it less soluble. There are vegetable tans, synthetic tans, mineral tans and aldehydes. To increase the fixation during tanning the liquor must have increased acidity, temperature, concentration of tanning liquids and higher bonding of tans to pelt (high astringency)

Tenters Hooks on frames onto which hides and hung. Designed to smooth out hides. Also used in textile industry.

Toggle Stretching pelts to shape in the hot room or the glass drying machine (glass drying unique to Hewit and Sons)

Vegetable tan Extracts derived from plants which are used in the tanning process (leaves, bark and fruit). At Hewit’s where light leather production mostly for bookbinding, then lightfastness and longevity are paramount, they use sumac, myrabolans and chestnut all of the pyrogallol types of vegetable tanning products which penetrate the pelt slowly before fixation takes place giving a yellow/green hue with resistance to fading.

Notes

(1) Balerno Mill at Kinauld was founded in 1770, see http://www.sapphire.ac.uk/papermakingexhib/papermakingtimeline.html, retrieved 22nd October 2009. This would have been a hand-made paper concern at such an early date.

(2) Thomson, A.G., The Paper Industry in Scotland (Scottish Academic Press, 1974), 129, 203

(3) The Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories incorporated a county directory only after 1833. Prior to that only Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven were listed. Interestingly, a Charles Laing of Galston parish, Ayrshire, invented a rag cutting machine in 1770 which was operated by a waterwheel which ran the paper mill: http://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/viewgallery/viewfile.asp?g=441&pid=714, retrieved 19 October 2009; Thomson, A.G., The Paper Industry in Scotland (Scottish Academic Press, 1974), 129 and Frontispiece. Balerno Mill is listed as making brown, cartridge and binder’s boards. Cartridge paper relied on cotton rags even after the increased uptake of esparto grass after the 1860s.

(4) Thomson, A.G., The Paper Industry in Scotland (Scottish Academic, 1974),181

(5) Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories, 1833/1834 – 1881/1882, County Directory, Currie.

(6) John Darney and Son of Kinghorn Fife occupied the site from 1904/1905 until 1908, Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories, 1904-1905, 1905-1906, 1906-1907, 1907-1908, County Directory, Currie listing ‘John Darney and Son glue and gelatine manufacturers’. See also Woodward, A.J. (ed.), ‘Scotland’s Industrial Souvenir’ (Derby,1905).

(7) J Hewit and Sons has been a bookbinding and leather goods manufacturer since 1865. The main works was the City Tan Works at 120 High Street, Edinburgh (see NT27SE 6020). This was in existence until 1955 when it destroyed by fire.

(8) Thomson, A.G., The Paper Industry in Scotland (Scottish Academic Press, 1974), 129

(9) Douglas, G.J., Hume, J.R., Moir, L., Oglethorpe, M.K., A Survey of Scottish Brickmarks (Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey, 1985), 22. Etna Brickworks, Armadale, West Lothian, common bricks produced late 19th century until 1947.

(10) RAF vertical aerial photograph: 106G/SCOT/UK/140, July 1946, frame 5141

(11) Ordnance Survey, vertical photograph: OS 63/159, 1963, frame 148

(12) Thomson, A.G., The Paper Industry in Scotland (Scottish Academic Press, 1974), frontispiece

(13) Information from Charles Ferguson, maintenance, Kinauld Leather Works, October 2008.

(14) Munsell, Joel, Chronology of the Origin and Progress of Paper and Paper-Making (Albany, 1876), 72: ‘1820...Notwithstanding the perfection of the fourdrinier machine...the old and tedious process of drying in lofts was still practised ...’. Munsell is referring to the wide use of lofts for drying at this comparatively late period in Britain and the USA and presumably referring to this fact while compiling his book from notes he had made over the previous 50 years.

(15) http://www.baph.org.uk/general%20reference/history_of_papermaking_in_the_united%20kingdom.htm, retrieved 20th October 2009

(16) Shaw, J. , Water Power in Scotland 1550-1870,(John Donald, 1984), 358

(17) Tann, J., The Development of the Factory (Cornmarket Press, 1970),166