Oakbank Mill
Date 19 June 1990
Event ID 893904
Category Management
Type Site Management
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/893904
A 3-storey and basement 5-bay rubble mill building with a 2-bay extension. At basement level is a ruined wheel house with a breast wheel about 10 ft (3.05m) wide by 18 ft (5.49m) diameter, with rim gearing. The main drive shaft, which is vertical, runs up the face of the building. (J Hume)
At one time the Grimond family controlled 4 of the twelve mills (including Oakbank) in the Blairgowrie area, having originally owned a lint mill on the Lornty Burn (J Shaw). JAR MacDonald's History of Blairgowrie, 1899, suggests that James Grimond was the first spinner Watt "induced to make a trial of jute." On James Grimond's death David Grimond (his nephew) suceeded. Oakbank Mill was burned down in the spring of 1872, the fire arising from a gas jet igniting some of the tow.
The mill remains one of a group of flax and jute mills that run along each side of the River Ericht, a classic example of a large colony of mills sited expressly for the purpose of exploiting a good water supply, said to be the oldest of their type in Scotland.
