Musselburgh, Station Road, Esk Mills
Mill (19th Century) (1854)
Site Name Musselburgh, Station Road, Esk Mills
Classification Mill (19th Century) (1854)
Alternative Name(s) Esk Net Mills; J And W Stuart Limited
Canmore ID 53804
Site Number NT37SW 155
NGR NT 33899 72244
NGR Description Centred on NT 33899 72244
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/53804
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Inveresk (East Lothian)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County Midlothian
NT37SW 155 33899 72244.
See Architecture. Photographed 1987.
(Location cited as NT 339 723 and name as Esk Net Mills). Built from 1867 for W and S Stuart, this extraordinary complex originally consisted of a 4-storey, 10- by 10-bay spinning and doubling mill, with harled back and sides, and an 8-bay classical facade, with pilasters through the first and second floors supporting statuary at third-floor level, and single-storey doubling and net-making sheds round a rectangular courtyard. The spinning mill has a tall 3-bay engine house, a small brick clock tower with a cast-iron crown, and an ornate cast-iron fire escape. The single-storey ranges are rubble-built, with round-headed windows and dentilated cornices. The packing block, opposite the main range, has a fine Greek doorway. Later additions include a small single-storey Greek office building, and the inspection block, with a frontage of massive cast-iron columns supporting arched girders, terminating at the rear in a circular turret with an ogival roof.
J R Hume 1976.
NT37SW 155.01 3390 7226 Office
NT37SW 155.02 3387 7228 Villas
Publication Account (1996)
Musselburgh's ability to develop was dependent on its industry, much of which, in its turn, was dependent on the vital source of power, the River Esk. On the west bank of the Esk, upstream from the old bridge, is the remnant of the net mill figure 22.G. The four-storey mill, with its fine classical facade, has recently been renovated as office premises, but it was in its heyday, the mid nineteenth century, one of the most important and innovative net makers in the country, employing over 600 people. Further upstream may still be seen the sluice gate figure 22.H, the vital controller of water supply to the mill lade, which flowed through the industrial complex of paper and net mills before re-entering the Esk near its mouth. The supply is now piped underground, but the sluice remains, a reminder of the importance of the Esk, the sluice, the mill dam and the mill lade from medieval times (see pp 18- 19).
Information from ‘Historic Musselburgh: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1996).
