Burnfoot Mill Complex 

There were various mills at Burnfoot, probably the best known or at least most remembered by locals of my generation is the Flag mill belonging to the McKinlays. There was also a sawmill and bleaching mill. The earliest map from 1856 shows the sawmill circled blue and the bleachworks circled red.

The Bleach works belonged to Hamilton Adam, the father of James Adam who was associated with the draining of the Barr Loch. This was the third bleach works to be established around Lochwinnoch. The first was the one created for the first linen factory that was built in Lochwinnoch at Factory Close (St Winnoc Road). Its bleach field was located in the Nursery Park between what was the site of Struthers garage at Newton of Barr and the double arched (former) railway bridge. The second was at Loan head. At this time the bleaching process involved a combination of treatment by acid and alkali then the cloth was spread out in fields for the sun to finish the bleaching process. This was to remove the natural colour of the fibres and prepare the textile for dying.

Although Hamilton Adam was married in 1756 (in Glasgow) to Janet Nasmyth, the marriage had been proclaimed three years earlier. Her father was Michael Nasmyth the school master and Janet was the eldest of three daughters. After the wedding they returned to her father’s house a couple of doors up from the old Kirk on Johnshill. She refused to sleep with Hamilton who in consequence went across to William Robieson’s Inn and left the next morning for Kersehead, Dalry where he came from. Around six months later he was badly injured falling from his horse. Janet was taken to see him and was urged to remain and go to bed with him to keep him warm. The rest is history as they say. It was said she was very pretty but “ternie in her temper”. I’ve never found a translation for this but I think one’s imagination can fill in the blanks.

Presently I do not have an exact date for when this bleaching facility was started. Two dates provide a window in which it started. Hamilton was married on 27th July 1756 and is referred to as a Bleacher in 1785 when he purchased a small parcel of land from McDowall. (This is mentioned in the article ……) These dates would suggest the mill was established sometime between 1756 and 1785. Quite a wide 30 year window, picking the mid date of 1771 would probably not be far out either way. The closure of the bleachworks is more certain from the following advert dated 24th August 1826. What is also of note from the advert is that the Burnfoot Bleachworks had been recently acquired by Andrew & Lindsay, Bleachers who then went into administration.

Prior to their acquisition of the Burnfoot bleachfield Mathew Adam who had taken over the business from his father also went bankrupt. He is recorded by Andro Crawford as fleeing to America.

The sawmill was established by Mr David Dalgleish, exactly when is unknown. In 1883 he started the Lochwinnoch Net Weaving Company which by 1890 was being run by his son John Hosie Dalgleish. In the 18th July 1888 edition of the Commercial Gazette (London) the following advert appeared:-

This notice of dissolution of partnerships indicates the sawmill and net weaving businesses became two distinct entities. Indeed it is recorded that the net weaving business relocated to the remnants of the Old Mill in 1889.

The 1895 map above shows a new building, circled red, has been added to the site. Burnfoot Silk Printing Works is labelled on the map close to this building suggesting it is the new print works which started in 1880. I believe this is misleading and it is in actual fact an expanded and relocated combined sawmill and new net weaving facility which was started by Mr Dalgleish in 1883. The small building that was the sawmill is still present however it is no longer listed as a sawmill. The 1911 map below shows this new building reduced in size probably because of the relocation of the net weaving business in 1889 and perhaps also due to a reduction in trade for the sawmill which remained in this building. Photographs from 1965 show a sawmill still in operation on this site.

The Block Printing Works of the McKinlay’s started in 1880 and operated till 1965. As the Motherwell Times proclaims in 1935 this operation was unique in the country.

After the failure of Andrew & Lindsay, Bleachers in 1826 who were located in the building marked 1 it is not known if it lay empty till McKinlay’s took it over. The new building identified with the number 2 at the top of the map was part of the printing works as I remember seeing the flags they produced lying on tables in this building.  They were clearly doing very well at this time (1911) because they also built another new building, identified with the number 3, on the site of the old sawmill directly across the road from the building that previously housed the bleach works. The construction of building 3 on the site of the old sawmill lends further weight to the belief that the red circled building is a relocated sawmill. All these buildings are long gone and building 2 is on the site of the Lochwinnoch Golf Club clubhouse.

Every manufacturing building discussed on this website has at some time been subjected to a fire. McKinlays is no different as the following newpaper report details:-

The photograph below, courtesy of Canmore, was taken in 1965 and shows building 3 on the right, the gable end of building 1 on the left and Burnfoot House, the former home of Hamilton Adam between them in the background.

The block printing works of J&R McKinlay & Co produced flags and pennants for the shipping industry as well as national flags for every country in the world. Ladies headscarves (mainly Paisley pattern) and handkerchiefs were also produced. An example of one is shown below and others are included in the gallery of photographs of the Burnfoot site.

There are some 60 different tools used to fashion the variety of shapes in a flag pattern. The blocks used in the printing process are wooden with the pattern carved into it. Strips of copper are then cut to shape and bent and twisted as required and driven into the pattern carved in the wood. The dyes have then to be mixed and these have to be tailored to the fabric because different fibres respond differently to the dye. A special type of glue is added which keeps the colours fast until they are fixed using steam. Part of the printing process is shown in the photograph below which was printed in the Glasgow Weekly Herald on 26th October 1935.