Calderpark Mill – The Old Mill

It was situated on the rising ground on the north-west side of the village, and was driven wholly by the waters of the Calder and reservoirs connected with it. The Old Mill Dam, alternatively known as the Horseshoe Dam, created the Falls at the entrance to the Glen. The dam is 19ft 8ins high and 85ft in circumference. It diverted water into a lade which supplied water to the wheel at the factory which drove all the machinery. The wheel was 24ft diameter and the mill had 9144 spindles. It initially employed 140 staff but when fully operational could employ about 350 people, old and young, who received about £l48 of wages a fortnight.  The building consisted of five stories with garrets, was around 175ft long and 25ft wide and was lit by 152 windows and 40 skylights. The yarn it produced varied in size from No. 60 to 80, and the water-twist from 24 to 30. The only image that exists of the mill is the sketch below. The number 2 in the sketch will be explained later.

The Calderpark mill was owned in a partnership between Messrs George Houston, Robert Burns and William McDowall. It was entered into on 29th February 1788. This was an agreement to carry on a joint trade and business on the water of Calder and the Cart for manufacturing cotton into yarn. George Houstoun was the Laird of Johnstone, and Mr. Burns was a cotton manufacturer from Paisley. The agreement was for an initial period of 25 years. Under the terms of this agreement McDowall had responsibility for erecting any mills on the Cart the partnership wished to establish.

Prior to entering into this partnership McDowall had already built the Calderpark Mill and associated dam (the Falls) and fore and aft lades bringing water to the mill and back to the river. He had also acquired the corn mill situated at the confluence of the Calder and Cloakburn. This ensured that the Calderpark Mill (which would become known locally as the Old Mill) had full control over the water. Also included was Queenside Loch with an option to convert it to a reservoir. All these assets were incorporated into this partnership agreement for the princely sum of £222, 10 shillings and 8 pence annually plus interest payments on the money advanced to build the mills.

In 1812 the mill was put up for sale. Prior to the sale a valuation of the heritable property of the mill was carried out for Charles Selkrig the statutory trustee of the estate of the late William McDowall. The net valuation was £3451 9s 7d. 

It was advertised for sale at £6000 but there were no takers and was re-advertised at £5000 and could be paid for in instalments to make it more attractive to a purchaser. It was finally bought in 1814 by William Wright & Co. for £4500 to be paid in instalments. The final payment was not due till 1817, the resulting disposition of ownership was dated April 29th 1817. In April 1820 the Trustees of William Morrison provided a loan of £3000 to the business. There were a number of shareholders in this Copartnery of Glasgow merchants - William & John Ferguson Sharpe, Michael Miller & James Wright. They were eventually bought out making the Mill an entirely family-owned business. However on 28th January 1852 James and John Wright as Trustees for William Wright sold the business to John James Kerr another Glasgow merchant.

The following advert for the sale of the mill appeared in the Caledonian Mercury Saturday 2nd May 1812.

The sale of these two mills (Calderpark and Cartside) was brought about by the significant reduction in the wealth of McDowall due to the collapse of Aleander Houston & Co in 1795 in which he was a partner. With Houston and McDowall being owners of these mills they were caught up in the costs of repaying debtors. The effect of this collapse was so severe than an Act of Parliament, 46 of George 3rd Chapter 15 dated 23rd July 1806, was passed to cushion the blow to Glasgow’s economy. The process of liquidation and settling the company accounts took over seven years, although all accounts appear to have been paid in full but not before all the partners’ assets – including the Castle Semple Estate – had been sold.

It was up for sale again late 1850.  The Calderpark mill operated as a cotton mill till about the year 1858, when the cotton crisis and the Western Bank failure in 1857 impacted the cotton textile business throughout the whole nation. The mill lay idle for a number of years and there were several attempts, starting in 1858, to sell it together with attached houses, land it owned and rights to the water of Calder, Queenside Loch and Calder Dam (which was demolished in the 1970's). The first advert for sale appeared August 9th 1858.

The following advert appeared in the Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser 6th April 1861:-

It finally sold on 30th September 1864 to the Crawford Brothers who owned a large mill at Barmill just outside Beith. They paid £3646 which bought them the mill including the managers house, land adjoining the mill with garden and contiguous enclosure extending to 5 acres 29 falls, fore and back lades, dam (The Falls), and rights to water of Calder including Queenside Loch and Calder Dam.

They converted the mill from spinning cotton to flax and the production of linen. The conversion is understandable given the cotton supply issues due to the American civil war. The installation of the new equipment caused quite a stir at times with the following article appearing on 26th August 1865 in the local press.

Although the sale disposition was not registered till September 1864 the brothers lost no time in starting the conversion with the following advert appearing in the Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser Saturday 20th February 1864 for the machinery contained within the Calderpark Mill. Clearly the deal was done before the Sale Disposition was registered.

Unfortunately this was just a reprieve because the main building of the mill was burned down on the morning of Wednesday, the 22nd of July, 1874, and was not rebuilt. A newspaper report described the event as follows:-

“The fire, which was first observed at about 3:00 am in the attics by a mill worker named Robert Padley who lives in the vicinity of the mill. It spread with alarming rapidity throughout the five storeys destroying every part of the extensive machinery, and a very large stock of flax which had been finished for the market. It is a very unfortunate circumstance that there is no fire-brigade in the neighbourhood, and that the owners of the mill had no apparatus at hand by which to extinguish the flames. The residents turned out in great numbers and there was plenty of water at hand as the mill lade runs round the mill and the river Calder is not far off; but owing to the want of appliances for pouring it on the flames nothing could be done to extinguish the flames. It was therefore allowed to burn itself out, and everything was consumed.

The main building, which is some 180 feet in length, is surrounded by other tenements, but not one of these was ignited, owing no doubt, to the absence of any wind. In the course of the morning a portion of the northern wall fell outwards, and the debris crushed in the roof of the carding-house that stands in close proximity to the mill. Here the machinery was greatlv damaged, but it was singularly fortunate that the engine-house escaped uninjured. The old mill is now a heap of ruins, and the fire smoulders, with occasional bursts of flame.

It is estimated that the total loss will amount to upwards of £20,000. The property, we understand, is only partially insured, and the risk is extended over five insurance offices. The origin of the fire is not actually known but it is supposed that the building was ignited by lightening as a thunderstorm having prevailed just previous to the fire being discovered. About 250 men have been thrown idle in consequence of the destructive fire. The building had been for some time unoccupied, but lately it has been tenanted by Messrs Hugh and James Crawford, flax manufacturers of Barrmill”.

However,  many of the ancillary building survived and were used by other small businessmen. Joseph Johnstone of the Viewfield Chair and Cabinet works began his business in one of these buildings. John Andrew also rented a unit for cabinet making. Another tenant was Mr Dalgliesh who ran a net weaving business making nets for lawn tennis and cricket. These buildings were still in use by 1897.

Today nothing remains of this mill. I have constructed the montage below to identify where it was and how this part of the village evolved over the period 1856 to 1913. Before trying to understand the montage please read the explanation which follows the photograph.

The numbering is consistent on each of the photographs. Building 2 is visible in the sketch of the mill, it is the low twin roofed building in front of the tall smoking chimney.

In order to understand the montage it is probably best to start with the photograph taken in 1984 (middle RHS) which is the most recognisable even today. The house identified as No. 1 used to belong to our Uncle Tom and is identified as Calderpark Cottage in the maps. From left to right the maps are dated 1856, 1897 and 1913. The location of the house marked No.8 is shown on each of the maps and in the aerial photograph taken in the 1960’s. The mill was sited behind this property and a bit to the left (looking face on) and straddled the site of Ian Russell’s garage.

The top photograph was taken from the Parish Church spire probably around 1897. Union Place or more commonly known as the Co-operative buildings were built in 1902. These are designated No.7 and there is no sign of their construction in the photograph. The buildings present in the photograph closely match the 1897 map. Building No 5 is the Kilndale building which was replaced with prefabs. No 6 which was waste ground when I was growing up in the village has been infilled with a modern residence which has an archway leading to a courtyard beyond. I believe this building was constructed by Robert Connell the local builder.

Despite the mill being destroyed in 1874, fourteen years later the Crawford brothers were still owners as can be seen by the report in the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald Friday 20th January 1888 on litigation regarding water rights. The fact they would contest this despite the mill being derelict for so long demonstrates the value placed on the water rights. In fact the water rights were prominent in subsequent sale particulars.

CRAWFORD BROTHERS V. CORNWALL &Co.

CRAWFORD Bros., flax spinners and manufacturers, Barrmill, Beith, Ayrshire, as proprietors of the mill's at Calderpark and Calderhaugh, near Lochwinnoch, raised this action against the proprietors in trust of the estate of Muirshiel to have it declared that the pursuers had the right and privilege of using the Queenside Loch or Dam, situated upon the estate of Muirshiel, and the dam at Caldercrook, situated partly upon said estate and partly upon the property of Sir Michael Robert Shaw Stewart, Bart. of Ardgowan, as reservoirs for the supply of said mills, and that the defenders have no right to use said loch and dam so far as situated upon Muirshiel for collecting or storing water for their Barytes Mill situated two miles further down the Calder Water from said loch and dam. The summons also contained conclusions for regulating said water supply. Calderhaugh and Calderpark Mills and the estate of Muirshiel belonged to the same proprietor in 1791. In the conveyance of the Calderhaugh Mill, the granter undertook that the water of the Calder opposite and above the ground conveyed should not be sold or conveyed so as to alter or divert said water. And in the conveyance of Calderpark Mill there was conveyed the right to use the water of Calder and Queenside Loch, with power to take 30 acres of ground for a reservoir. In the conveyance of Muirshiel the lands were conveyed subject to any servitudes affecting the same. The pursuer's predecessors executed considerable repairs on the loch and constructed a new dam at Caldercrook, towards the expense of which the proprietors of Muirshiel contributed nothing. The pursuers' mills were burned down in 1878, and have not been rebuilt. They maintained that they had a heritable right to said loch and dam; that they and their authors had possessed the same without dispute for more than forty years; and that the defenders were not entitled to remove certain sluices and to form dams for collecting water for their Barytes Mill.

Proof having been led, the Lord-Ordinary (Kinnear) found that the pursuer had right to use the water of Calder and said loch and dam; and that the defenders were entitled to use the water in such a manner as might not be prejudicial to the pursuers or inconsistent with the exercise of their right. But he also found that as the pursuers' mills had not been rebuilt the uses now taken by the defenders of said loch and dam were in no way prejudicial to the pursuers. His lordship therefore dismissed the action, reserving to the pursuers all right competent to them in the event of their mills being rebuilt.

The defenders were found entitled to expenses. His lordship held that the pursuers' right was merely one of servitude.

The pursuers reclaimed.

After hearing counsel to-day their lordships recalled the Lord Ordinary's interlocutor so far as it found that the pursuers' right was merely one of servitude, and decerned against the defenders, in terms of the declaratory conclusions of the summons, subject to the qualifications stated by the Lord-Ordinary ; and quoad ultra they affirmed his lordship's interlocutor, and found neither party entitled to expenses. Counsel for Reclaimers and Pursuers—Mr Balfour, Q.C. ; Mr Low, and Mr James Reid. Agent—Donald Mackenzie, W. S. Counsel for Respondents and Defenders— Dean of Faculty, Q.C., and Mr Guthrie. Agents—J. A. Campbell & Lamond, W. S.

However the following year the brothers made a serious effort to dispose of both the Old and New mill properties with the following series of adverts in the Glasgow Property Circular and West of Scotland Weekly Advertiser Tuesday 12th November 1889:-

This advert appeared again Tuesday 11th March 1890,

And again Tuesday 13th May 1890

And again Tuesday 4th November 1890

And again Tuesday 2nd December 1890

And again Tuesday 19th May 1891

And again Tuesday 1st December 1891

The New Mill was finally leased to J B Oliver who re-started it as a silk mill. The Old Mill was never again to produce textiles. The buildings that survived the fire did find some re-use which will be picked up in the Furniture making section. However at this point it is worth mentioning one other use the buildings were put to. Around 1883 The Lochwinnoch Net Weaving Company was established by Mr David Dalgleish, father of the present proprietor, Mr John Hosie Dalgleish. It was begun in the Burnfoot Mill, and in May 1890 was removed to Calderpark Mill. The articles produced were principally cricket and lawn tennis nets, and these were worked by hand. When the business was started net machines were used in the manufacture, but this was discontinued, and the work was wholly confined to hand made nets. Only a few persons were employed in the mill for the purpose of finishing and packing up the nets for market, but the making of the nets afforded a light and remunerative employment at their own homes to between fifteen and thirty persons, according to the business season.