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Silverburn House, Offices
Flax Mill (19th Century), Office(S) (19th Century), Stable(S) (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Silverburn House, Offices
Classification Flax Mill (19th Century), Office(S) (19th Century), Stable(S) (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Silverburn House Estate; Silverburn House Policies
Canmore ID 31337
Site Number NO30SE 24.01
NGR NO 39381 01948
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/31337
- Council Fife
- Parish Scoonie (Kirkcaldy)
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
NO30SE 24.01 39381 01948
Stables and offices converted from a flax mill shown on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Fife and Kinross 1855, sheet 25). The cottages (see NO30SE 24.02) were probably built for the flax mill workers. The mill was connected to the railway system by a short spur to the E.
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 9 August 1999.
Single and 2-storey, approximate T-plan, classically-detailed small industrial range converted to agricultural use. Brick with large ashlar quoins and original corrugated-iron roofs. Partial band course. Round-headed openings and segmental recessed arches; lunette windows. Boarded timber doors. Small-pane glazing patterns (some with lying panes) in timber casement windows. Corrugated-iron roofs, ashlar skews where gabled. Brick ridge stacks.
David Russell leased Silverburn from the Durie Estate sometime before 1855, and Arthur Russell purchased the land in 1866. He rebuilt Silverburn House and opened a flax mill. In 1973 Major Russell gifted the Silverburn Estate to Leven Town Council and the National Trust for Scotland. The offices (mill buildings) were opened as a 'mini farm' in 1985. (Historic Scotland)
Field Visit (7 November 2023)
Silverburn Flax (Scutch) Mill
NO30SE 24.1
NO39381 01948
Observations:
The engine house has remnants of two phases of foundations.
There is an ashlar sill that carried the bearing for the flywheel which operated the machinery.
There are surviving brackets (cast iron) fixed to the brick internal pillars between arches. On the other side of the brackets are surviving pateras plates which would have braced against the vibration of the line shafting. Some of the arches have subsequently been blocked.
Internal columns are formed from two water down pipes joined together with bracing struts to the roof. This was the bale storage area to provide the height needed to store the flax bales until needed. The floor may have been further lowered to increase storage capacity, but this is unverified.
Information from Mark Watson (Historic Environment Scotland), 2016.
Scutching: the separating of flax fibre from its woody stems
Bale: a cuboid parcel containing compressed plant material due for further processing
Line shaft: a longitudinal pole running the length of a workshop and from which belting attached to machinery was attached
