Brechin, East Mill Road, East Mills
Factory (21st Century), Flax Mill (19th Century)
Site Name Brechin, East Mill Road, East Mills
Classification Factory (21st Century), Flax Mill (19th Century)
Canmore ID 82577
Site Number NO65NW 72
NGR NO 60756 59477
NGR Description Centred NO 60756 59477
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/82577
- Council Angus
- Parish Brechin
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Angus
- Former County Angus
NO65NW 72 centred 60756 59477
(Location cited as NO 608 594). East Mills, early 19th century and later. A large complex, consisting of a two-storey and attic, 3- by 15-bay block, a taller two-storey and attic, 9-bay building with a three-storey tower surmounted by a clock tower and belfry (1837), a two-storey and attic, 2- by 8-bay block (1858) and a four-bay range of weaving sheds, heightened in brick. Now empty.
J R Hume 1977.
North section of the East Mill, built in 1837 and the only fireproof mill by engineers Umpherston and Kerr to survive in Angus. It is rubble built with ashlar dressings, and rises to 2 storeys with an attic flat. It is disposed on a 3-aisle rectangular plan with iron columns and a fireproof jack-arch construction. The 3 storey staircase tower is surmounted by a clock and bellcote. The roof is in slate. Other sections of the mill are in use as storage.
Photographic Survey (March 1965)
Photographic survey of East Mill, Mill Road, Brechin, in 1965 by the Ministry of Works/Scottish National Buildings Record.
Publication Account (2013)
Flax spinning by water power started in 1799 in what was at first a flax scutching and corn mill. In 1801 the firm coined its own Brechin halfpenny with the round tower on one side and the two-storey East Mill depicted on the other. A three-storey fireproof spinning mill was added in 1837 with a bellcote over the stair tower. It is in the style of Umpherston &Kerr, Douglas Foundry, the only example left outside Dundee of the Dundee type of iron frame from this period, pre-1850. The wheelhouse has been removed. Other buildings carry various datestones, the continuation to the north is pre 1821, and one to south of the original range is of 1858. The bleach works to the east experienced a fire in 1898. Now it sorts potatoes.
M Watson, 2013
