Rothes Bleachfield

Rothes and Auchmuty Mills:

1800 Rothes Bleachfield built on the banks of the River Leven

1804 Rothes Mill, the first paper mill in Fife is built on the banks of the River Leven

1804 Land leased from the Earl of Rothes to build Auchmuty Mill (NO27724 701761)

1809 Robert Tullis buys Auchmuty Mill and forms R. Tullis and Co.

1836 R. Tullis and Co. acquires Rothes Mill (NO28228 01625)

1846 R. Tullis acquires the Rothes Bleachfield (NO280016)

1865 Mr Leigh Slater funds the paper coating business in Cheshire

1896 Henry and Leigh Slater Ltd is formed

1906 The name of the company changes to Tullis Russell and Co. Ltd

1917 Sixteen acres of previously leased land at Cadham is purchased including Cadham House (NO278019) and Cadham Farm

1927 A Filner-Jacobs forms Vulcanised Fibre Ltd with financial assistance form David Russell, Tullis Russell supply special paper for the manufacture of Vulcanised Fibre (closes 1983)

1944 Remainder of Auchmuty farmlands purchased

1951 Auchmuty farmland sold to Glenrothes Development Corporation for the new town of Glenrothes

1961 Tullis Russell and the American company Crocker, Burnbank and Co. form and association to manufacture capacitor papers. The Russell and Crocker Mill at Markinch which opens in 1963 starts to make capacitor tissue.

1963 Vulcanised Fibre becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullis Russell.

1965 IPAC Ltd of Manchester who produce crepe paper for the electrical industries is acquired by Tullis Russell and manufacture transfers to the Russell and Crocker Mill at Markinch in 1969. This mill closes in 1995. Production of crepe paper transfers to Rothes Mill.

1982 Coated Papers Ltd founded

1984 Coated Papers Ltd of Cheddleton, Staffordshire is acquired . The company moves from Cheddleton to Bollington , Cheshire in 1989.

1898 Henry Sleigh Slater closes and Coated Papers ltd takes over the Bollington site.

1997 The Markinch Company becomes known as Tullis Russell Papermakers Ltd .

1999 Asia Pacific Speciality Coaters renamed Tulis Russell Coaters Korea Ltd in 2001.

2002 Hanley and Bollington sites amalgamated under the name Tullis Russell Coaters.

Tullis Russell Coated Papers Ltd, 2011

This bleachfield was opened on the banks of the River Leven in 1800. Associated buildings have been largely removed,although the west pond or reservoir (north end ) survives which may have related to the Bleachfield complex. However, there were three north/ south orientated buildings visible which appear to have the same footprint as a range shown on the Ordnance Survey, 2nd edition 6-inch map (Fife and Kinross, published 1896 (surveyed 1894), sheet XXVII.NE at NO28010 01565 (centred).

Information from RCAHMS (MMD), 27 November 2013.

NO 27751 01702 A photographic and written historic building survey of the upstanding buildings within the former paper factory was carried out 20 – 21 November 2017. The factory, which ceased operations in 2015, consists largely of a collection of mid- to late 20th-century industrial buildings, offices and a biomass plant. However, there are some earlier elements, most notably the main mill lade which runs through the site and its associated sluice gates and operational machinery. In addition, there appear to be some elements of earlier buildings to the N side of one of the larger machine plant buildings; although a brief inspection of the interior suggested minimal survivals, with a few walls and windows (blocked) which were possibly 19th-century in date.

Rothes House, a listed building, is also located within the development area. The building is an early to mid-late 19th-century country house with some interesting and fine architectural detail, although its setting has been severely compromised by its proximity of the biomass plant.

Archive: NRHE (intended)

Funder: Advance Construction

Diana Sproat – AOC Archaeology Group

(Source: DES Vol 19)

OASIS ID: aocarcha1-309030