Monuments of Industry - an illustrated historical record

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland was established in 1908 to make a record of all the buildings and monuments in the country earlier than 1707, and to specify those most worthy of preservation. In 1948 the limiting date was relaxed to permit inclusion of selected examples of 18th- and 19th-century buildings in the county Inventories of monuments. In its survey of Stirlingshire, begun in the early 1950s, the Commission took full advantage of these extended terms of reference by describing a range of monuments which reflected the early industrial development of that county. The results of what might be claimed as pioneering fieldwork in Scottish industrial archaeology were published in 1963, I and subsequent topographic surveys in the less heavily industrialised counties of Peeblesshire and Argyll have continued to treat industrial and engineering monuments on a similar basis.

Industrial buildings have also figured prominently in the threatened building surveys carried out by the Commission since 1966, the year when it assumed responsibility for the administration of the former Scottish National Buildings Record, now the National Monuments Record of Scotland. This programme of emergency survey work received statutory recognition in 1969, when a new Planning Act stipulated that no listed building in Scotland should be demolished until the Commission had been given an opportunity to make an appropriate record. Not all industrial monuments fell within the scope of this programme, however, and the heavy and specialised demands of industrial recording led eventually in 1977 to the formation of the Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey. This unit, originally funded mainly by Scottish Development Department and directed by Mr J R Hume from the Department of Economic History, University of Strathclyde, was transferred to the Commission in April 1985.

Recognising the great importance and interest attached to this subject, the Commissioners have decided to publish a representative selection from the large amount of material relating to industrial monuments amassed during the first thirty years of the Commission's activities in this field. This monograph forms part of a series of occasional publications designed to give fuller treatment to subjects which cannot be embraced within the normal course of the Commission's publication programme.

The monuments described in this volume reflect aspects of the industrial, technological and commercial transformation of Scotland since about the middle of the 18th century. Evidence for earlier remains, other than bridges and a few mills, rests largely upon the techniques of archaeological and historical research. These techniques have been used to assist in the graphic reconstruction of some incomplete or vanished sites of later date, but otherwise the present work is directed principally towards upstanding buildings, machines and processes. These are described and analysed from a structural and technical standpoint, and discussion has occasionally been extended to the wider applications of industrial artefacts.

The collection of case-studies presented here is primarily intended to demonstrate the range of Scottish industrial monuments, the techniques involved in recording them, and the value of the information assembled. It should be stressed, however, that outside the areas covered by the county Inventories the material has not accrued as a result of a programme of systematic survey and research. The majority of the subjects in this book were recorded in response to random threats of different kinds; time has been found to make good some deficiencies in the record, but other obvious gaps in the overall coverage of industrial monuments still remain. The variety of circumstances under which these records have been compiled over a thirty-year period also accounts for some inconsistencies in approach and style of presentation. The Commission's aim throughout has been to obtain as full a descriptive record as the subject merited and as time and circumstances permitted; the record of those monuments that were in operation at the dates of survey usually includes an account of the associated industrial processes. For the purposes of this publication an attempt has been made to ascertain what has happened to these buildings and monuments since the surveys were made, and to identify any that are protected by legislation.

For convenience the material has been arranged in seven main sections, each with its own explanatory introduction and summary descriptive accounts of the principal subjects. In almost every case fuller descriptive reports are available for reference in the National Monuments Record of Scotland. This publication differs from previous national industrial surveys, however, in placing considerable emphasis on illustrations, and especially on line-drawings. Most of the drawings have been specially prepared for publication and composed as study-sheets, but several have been deliberately kept in the form of on-site pencil surveys. Photographic coverage includes the results of low-level aerial photography carried out by the Commission's staff, and illustrations of all kinds have been drawn from the archival resources of the National Monuments Record of Scotland. There is a considerable, and growing, literature on Scottish industrial archaeology, but, whilst an immense debt is freely acknowledged to the published works of other scholars,3 the notes and references cited in support of this text are mainly restricted to the contributions made by the Commission and members of its staff.

Commissioners and staff involved in the preparation of this book would like it to serve as a tribute to the memory of Mr Angus Graham, one-time Secretary of the Commission and a pioneering fieldworker in the archaeology of Scottish transport and industry.

The subject of this monograph serves to illustrate a major aspect of the work carried out since 1954 by one of the Commission's Investigators, Mr Geoffrey D Hay. The compilation of this volume was entrusted to him, and the Commissioners wish to record their deep appreciation of the way in which he has selected the material, especially the illuminating line-drawings which form such a conspicuous feature of this book. Mr Hay has received great support from his co-author, Mr Geoffrey P Stell, who, in addition to writing a substantial portion of the text, has given much help with editorial matters, and from Mr A MacLaren, who has edited the volume. Mention should also be made of the important contributions made by other members of the Commission's staff: by Mr S Scott, Mr D R Boyd, Mr A J Leith, Mr I G Parker and Mr J N Stevenson of the Drawing Office, all under the direction of Mr I G Scott, who was also responsible for the design and layout of the volume; by Mr G B Quick and Mr J D Keggie and their colleagues in the Photographic Department, Mr J M Mackie, Mr S Wallace, Mr A G Lamb, Miss A P Stirling and Mr R M Adam; and by Mrs D D Burton, Miss M Isbister and Miss E J Drysdale, who did the clerical and typing work.

Acknowledgements for assistance or for reproduction of material are also due to the owners and occupiers of all the monuments and buildings recorded in the course of this work, and especially to the managers and staff of those which were in operation at the dates of survey; to members and staff of the Council for British Archaeology, Industrial Archaeology Research Committee (especially Mr R Wailes and Mr K A Falconer); Her Majesty's Customs and Excise Museum, London (Mr T G Smith); Edinburgh City Libraries; Edinburgh City Museums; Falkirk Museums; Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton (Commander P J Craig, RN (Retd) and Mr G Mottram); Museum of Flight, East Fortune (Mr D N Brown and Mr A G I Dodds); Mitchell Library, Glasgow; lronbridge Gorge Museum Trust; Museum of Islay Life; Kirkwall Library, Orkney (Mr R K Leslie); National Library of Scotland; National Maritime Museum; National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland; New Lanark Conservation Trust; North of England Open Air Museum, Beamish (Director, Mr F Atkinson); Prestongrange Colliery Museum of Mining, East Lothian District Council; Public Record Office, London; Royal Scottish Museum (Mr I T Bunyan, Mr J D Storer, Mr J L Wood); Science Museum, London (Mr J B Hill and Dr R F Bud); Scottish Development Department, Historic Buildings and Monuments Directorate; Scottish Industrial Archaeology Survey (Mr J R Hume, Mr G J Douglas and Dr M K Oglethorpe); Scottish Record Office; Her Majesty's Stationery Office; The Fishery Office, Wick; Wick Heritage Museum; Angus District Council; Grampian Regional Council, Roads Department; and to Mr C G Booth, Dr W A Campbell, Lieutenant-Commander D Falkingham, RNR, Mr G R Curtis, Dr J A Iredale, Mr I G McIntosh, Mr E C Ruddock , Mr I Shaw, Mr J C Temple, Professor D G Tucker and Dr D B Walker.

RCAHMS 1986