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Greenock, Drumfrochar Road, Fleming Reid & Co Limited's Worsted Mills

Watermill (19th Century), Wool Manufacturing Site (19th Century), Worsted Mill (19th Century)

Site Name Greenock, Drumfrochar Road, Fleming Reid & Co Limited's Worsted Mills

Classification Watermill (19th Century), Wool Manufacturing Site (19th Century), Worsted Mill (19th Century)

Alternative Name(s) Rockbank Woollen Mills; Shaw's Water Mill; Shaw's Water Worsted Mills; The Worsted Mills

Canmore ID 68387

Site Number NS27NE 20

NGR NS 27166 75346

NGR Description Centred NS 27166 75346

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/68387

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Bluesky International Limited 2025. Public Sector Viewing Terms

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Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Inverclyde
  • Parish Greenock
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Inverclyde
  • Former County Renfrewshire

Architecture Notes

NS27NE 20.00 centred 27166 75346

NS27NE 20.01 NS 27075 75279 Knitting Factory

NS27NE 20.02 NS 27003 75283 Hosiery Warehouse

NS27NE 20.03 NS 27132 75356 Offices

NS27NE 20.04 NS 2716 7537 Carding and Combing Block

NS27NE 20.05 NS 27211 75392 Wool Warehouse

NS27NE 20.06 NS 2720 7543 Boiler House

NS27NE 20.07 NS 2725 7540 Water Turbine House

NS27NE 20.08 NS 27151 75329 Spinning Mill

(Location cited as NS 272 753). Shaws water Mill, founded 1840 by Fleming, Reid & Co. A large group of red-brick buildings, the oldest being a handsome 6-storey, 22-bay block, built in 1881. The 2-storey gatehouse with its clock tower is also pleasing. The mill was sited to derive its power from the Shaws Water Works, and still uses water turbines.

J R Hume 1976.

The Houston and Dunlop Collection has drawings showing that Shaw's Water Mill (centred on NS 2710 7530) belonged to Messrs Fleming, Reid and Company from at least 1908 (HD F/49/1). Fleming, Reid and Company also occupied the adjacent Rockbank Woollen Mills (centred on NS 27210 75392). Both are depicted on the 1st and 2nd edition (OS 25-inch (Renfrewshire) 1898, Sheet II S.W.). The mills were demolished at some point after the RCAHMS aerial photograph taken in 1988 (A 72720), and have since been replaced by a residential development.

Information from RCAHMS (DJNP), 22 January 2003

Activities

Publication Account

Shaws Water Aqueduct. Occupation of Falls, 1845

Fall no. 12, Height: 29 feet; 53 Horsepower; Occupant: Neill, Fleming and Reid

Source: Hutcheson's Greenock Register, Directory and General Advertiser for 1845-6, Greenock 1845.

J Shaw 1984

References

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