Innerleithen, Damside, Caerlee Mills

Photographs of Caerlee Mills, Innerleithen, Peebles-shire, by the Scottish National Buildings Record in 1961.

Caerlee Mill, Innerleithen. The complex of sites known as Caerlee Mill is situated some 200 yards N[orth] of the High Street and immediately W[est] of the parish church. The original building [High Mill] which still survives as part of a T-shaped structure running approximately E[ast] and W[est] (fig 302), was begun about 1788 by Alexander Brodie, primarily for the purpose of stimulating employment and industry in his native district. Although the project was not a commercial success in Brodie's lifetime, the mill nevertheless initiated the growth of the woollen industry in Innerleithen. It was in full operation by 1790, having cost , with the machinery, upwards of £3000 to build, and has been claimed that at the time it was perhaps the largest and best equipped textile -mill in the Borders (Chambers, 1864, 368). Findlater (1802, 25) records that in 1797 there were two water wheels on the site for 'spinning, carding , roving, and a fulling mill'. In the Statistical Account (1797, Vol. 19, 578), where the mill is described as a 'workhouse' , it is stated that it 'consists of five floors; the first and second of whichare occupied by the operations performed by water...; spinning jeanies, looms &c. of various constructions, occupy the two next. The highest is a storeroom for the raw material'.Brodie's work, although much altered in details is to be identified with the main rectangular block of the T-shaped building already mentioned. In addition, a plan dated 1856 (in the possession of Messrs. John C. Brodie, Cuthbertson and Watson, W.S.) shows that it possessed a narrow outshot across the its E[ast] end, presumably the original wheelhouse; the latter was served by a lade which, fed from the Leithen Water, still flows past the building from N[orth] to S[outh]. The rectangular block measures 75ft 7in. by 27 ft. 1in. overall, and, as already mentioned, comprises five storeys, the upper one being an attic nwholly contained in the roof space. The walls, which were built of harled whionstone rubble, are 2ft. 9 in. in thickness at the gable ends and 2ft. 1in. at the sides. The floors are constructed wholly of timber, comprising main cross beams supported by square entre posts , and filler jpists ; the maximum sectrions of these on the ground floor are respectively 12in. by 9in., 6 in. by 6in., and 4in. by 4in. Each storey comprises a single large compartment with a relatively low ceiling, and each, except the attic, is lit by a moderate range of the sized windows in the side walls. On some, if not all, floors there are fireplaces in the bagle walls and in the E[ast] wall. The indows are divided into small panes and on the S[outh] side they are spaced uniformly between the beam centres, thus forming a regular external fenestration.

After Brodie's death in 1811 the mill passed through the hands of several tenants until in 1841 his heirs assigned and conveyed the building to Robert Gill, when it became known as Caerlee MIlls. Gill owned the mill until 1868, during which term he evidently enlarged it, and added steam power to the original water power (Chambers, 1864, 371; Buchan, 1927, 430). He it was, presumably, who added the N[orth] wing which in most respects follows the pattern of the earlier building; the windows, however, are larger and the main cross beams are supported at their centres on cast-iron stanchions 5in. in diameter. Again, some time after 1856, the old outshot at the E[ast] end of the building was evidently replaced by a much largerextension, which bridges over the old lade and is said to contain a disused water turbine below ground level. This last expansion completed the T-shape block, which in turn has been linked to later buildings on the site. August 1959.

RCAHMS, 1967.

Caerlee Mill was the first water powered textile mill in the Borders and highly significant as it marks the beginning of the industrialisation and the development of the textile towns in the area. The mill demonstrates the evolution of the industry over centuries, including water turbine technology. It is now (2007) the oldest continually operating textile mill in Scotland.

Information from Mark Watson (Historic Scotland), 2007.

RCAHMS carried out a photographic survey in June 2013 as a result of Ballantyne of Peebles going into liquidation and the buildings standing empty.

Information from RCAHMS (MMD) June 2013

Ballantyne's cashmere closed 2013. Site now empty.

Information from RCAHMS (MMD), 14 May 2013.

Headland Archaeology undertook a programme of historic building recording at Caerlee Mill, Innerleithen, Scottish Borders.

The building recording focused on the upstanding remains of the late 18th through to 20th century Caerlee Mills, the earliest surviving water powered wool mill of the industrial revolution in Scotland; which remained in use until 2010. Building upon earlier desk-based assessment a broad chronology has been constructed, showing significant periods of change throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Information from M. Ginnever - Headland Archaeology Ltd, 2016.

OASIS ID: headland1-239006

Visibility: This is an upstanding building.

Information from Scottish Borders Council.

This mill was built c.1788-90 by Alexander Brodie and was subsequently extended. It is four storey with a two by 16 bay block with single storey weaving sheds and ancillary buildings.

Information from Scottish Borders Council