Glenrothes, Markinch, Tullis Russell & Co, Papermill
Paper Mill (19th Century)
Site Name Glenrothes, Markinch, Tullis Russell & Co, Papermill
Classification Paper Mill (19th Century)
Canmore ID 70462
Site Number NO20SE 52
NGR NO 28162 01615
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/70462
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 5 from north west](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/DP00220668.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 3 from east with Cast Coater beyond.](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/DP00220666.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 4 from west. This cutter is narrower than wither JAG 3 or 5](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/DP00220669.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 5 from north east](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/DP00220671.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 5 from north west](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/DP00220668.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 3 from east with Cast Coater beyond.](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/DP00220666.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 4 from west. This cutter is narrower than wither JAG 3 or 5](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/DP00220669.jpg)
![Interior. Cast Coating area. Paper cutting machine JAG[enberg] 5 from north east](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/DP00220671.jpg)
First 100 images shown. See the Collections panel (below) for a link to all digital images.
- Council Fife
- Parish Markinch
- Former Region Fife
- Former District Kirkcaldy
- Former County Fife
Publication Account (1953)
The Markinch site of Tullis Russell Group consisted of Rothes Mill and Auchmuty Mills, both of which dated from the early years of the 19th century. Auchmuty Mill was formerly a meal mill and Rothes Mill was built as a papermill. Rothes Mill is situated some 600 metres lower down River Leven from Auchmuty Mill (NO20SE 52.02) and was converted to a paper mill in 1804. It was bought by Robert Tullis's company in 1836. Four water wheels were in use on this site. The process of making paper by hand in the early days would have required little in the way of heat and power excpet for boiling the rags and for loft drying the the sheets of paper. The introduction of the papermakig machine required steam boilers to provide het for the drying cylinders. So steam engines replaced water wheels as the main prime mover on this site. In the 1820s, 'one of the first paper making machines in the country was installed at Rothes Mill', with another installed at Auchmuty a few years later. These were first driven by the water wheels and and the first steam power (for drying) was supplied by steam engines (beam engines). The waterwheels would then have eeen replaced by water turbines and the eary steam engines by more modern machines such as the Corliss engine.
Tullis and Russell and Co. Ltd, c.1953
Publication Account (1967)
About 30 licenses a year were granted for papermills in Scotland between 1780 and 1800 (300-400 in England in the same period) but unclear how many actually operated. By 1800, 1000 tons of paper a year was being produced in Scotland. In 1830, 76 Scottish mills were listed in the Excise Return with 19 converted to ther uses or silent. The remaining 57 (30 had machines) were producing more paper than England. By 1800 Scottish mills providing 9% of the UK output of paper. By 1850, this stood at 22% of total UK output.
CDM Ketelbey, 1967
Publication Account (2011)
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
Field Visit (16 February 2016)
Tullis Russell papermills closed in April 2011. Paper had been produced on the Markinch site (Rothes and Auchmmuty Mills) for 202 years.
Information from HES (MMD), 16 February 2016.
Standing Building Recording (20 November 2017 - 21 November 2017)
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
