Edinburgh, Cramond, Cramond Mill
Dock (Post Medieval), Iron Works (Post Medieval), Mill (Post Medieval)
Site Name Edinburgh, Cramond, Cramond Mill
Classification Dock (Post Medieval), Iron Works (Post Medieval), Mill (Post Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Niddry's Mill; Cockle Mill; River Almond
Canmore ID 90349
Site Number NT17NE 69
NGR NT 1874 7656
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/90349
- Council Edinburgh, City Of
- Parish Edinburgh (Edinburgh, City Of)
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District City Of Edinburgh
- Former County Midlothian
NT17NE 69 1874 7656
'Very extensive iron works situated about 1/4 mile S of Cramond, on the River Almond. These works are carried on by Messrs. Caddell and Co, who first settled in Cramond in 1771. There are four in all connected with this company within a short distance of each other, viz. Cockle Mill, Peggie's Mill, Dowies Mill and Fairafar Mill. They receive supplies of iron for working from Russia. The tide flows as far as this mill which enables vessels of 60 or 70 tons to ship cargoes to different ports. This mill itself employs about 20 men.'
Ordnance Survey Name Book, 1852
The lowest mill on the River Almond at the highest reach of the tide is Cockle Mill (Cramond Mill), the origin of the name is unknown. Originally a grain mill, known originally as Cramond Mill, is first recorded in 1178 when it was in possession of the abbot of Inchcolm who derived annual rent from it.
Iron working began in 1752 and continued until about 1867, as by 1873 it had apparently disappeared from the valuation rolls as an iron mill, the roll for 1869 stating that a paintworks had taken over the site. By the end of the century the buildings were ruinous and the flood of 1935 probably removed much of the site.
The Cockle Mill buildings followed the same general plan as Peggie's and Dowie's Mills (NT17NE 99 and NT17NE 98). Workers cottages stood against the rising ground with the name Caddell(wrongly spelt), carved into the stonework. A date of c1760's would appear to be acceptable for most of the structures in the area.
On the other side of School Brae the surviving buildings originally included the mill offices, approached by an outside stair, the circular embrasure of the mill clock is still visible in the wall. In front of these buildings ran the lade and the horse-tramway, the lade returning to the river through the culvert in the dock. The mill buildings stood where the car park and the green lawn are now laid out. The mill, steam forge, furnaces, stalks and engine sheds have all disappeared, with only the dock surviving comparatively intact. Although now silted up, it measures 93ft long, 21ft wide and 8ft deep, giving some idea of the size of the vessels which it accommodated.
P Cadell 1973.
NT 1884 7677 Short length of iron rail, probably part of a horse railway used for transport of iron products from Fair-a-Far (NT17NE 97) and Cockle mills, visible alongside River Almond walkway. Line of tramway first shown on Carfrae's 1839 plan of the Lands of Fair-a Far.
V E Dean 1995.
Publication Account (1985)
Corn and cloth had long been worked in water-mills at Cramond. Industrial iron-working, including nailmaking, began a little after 1752 and the Carron
Company, later to become internationally renowned, took over in 1759 only to sell out to the Cadell family by 1770.
Nothing now remains of the highest mills, Peggie's Mill (1781) and Dowie's Mill (1782), where spades and hoops were made. At Cockle Mill, the lowest mill, there are traces of successive weirs, a fine tidal dock and the former office buildings, now private houses. This was the rolling and slitting mill from c 1752, described by John Rennie in 1782 as having 3 water wheels. The principal forge, however, was at Fair-a-Far, a little upstream; from c 1778 its products included plough socs, girdles and cart axles. The walls still stand a storey high, incorporating the corbels used to support a spur-wheel which operated at the rim of the main water-wheel and presumably drove such small pieces of equipment as a bellows, shears or grindstone.
The substantial weir (with modernised fish ladder) was constructed by 1839 to replace another upstream. It helped supply water to two small wheels and to an undershot wheel whose diameter, approximately 4 m,
can be gauged from scrape marks on the mill wall.
The present buildings represent the 'west' forge; the 'east' forge has disappeared. Storage sheds for coal and scrap iron were built into the hillside, whilst slag was tipped into the river up to 50 m downstream. Much of it was used to extend and build up the river-bank, laid over large tree-trunks set end-on to the river and occasionally visible through erosion. About 1839 a light tramway linked this mill to the dock at Cockle Mill; the mouth of the river, too, is lined with a substantial stone-built quay where iron was brought in and the finished products exported.
Industrial housing, now modernised, survives in Cramond village and at Cockle Mill; above the gorge at Cockle Mill, above the worst of the dirt and smoke and noise, stands the solidly respectable manager's house!
Cramond also has a pleasing Auld Brig (NT 179754), the remains of an important Roman fort and bathhouse, an interesting churchyard, a mansion house, a tower-house and perhaps the last little river-mouth ferry in Scotland (passengers only).
Information from 'Exploring Scotland’s Heritage, Lothian and Borders’ (1985).
Watching Brief (January 2002 - March 2002)
NT 1874 7656 A watching brief between January and March 2002 on the site of a drain improvement scheme near School Brae recorded a number of features. These included walls, remains of a furnace, and floors and deposits associated with the workings and demolition of the 18th-century Cockle Mill (NT 17 NE 69). No evidence of the 12th-century Cramond Mill, which was believed to have occupied the site, was revealed. (AOC 3719)
Archive to be deposited in the NMRS.
Sponsor: East of Scotland Water.
A Hunter Blair 2002.
