Report - Buccleuch Mill - Hawick - Aug 2016

[Speed]

This one's been floating about as one of those 'OMGSECRETLOCATIONZZ' for a while now. The last few scotland trips we have made a point of going through Hawick to check on it. You could see through the windows it was rather special, luckily this time it was open too.

History is a bit sparse. It's made up of an early 1800s hand loom mill with a slightly later extension to accommodate machine looms. It's all bloody old tho! The companies that have occupied it have gone under various names including Messrs James Bonsor & Co. (hosiery manufacturer), Bonsor And Ashford, Sybil's and Glenhowe.

What i do know about the place is that it's one of the best textile works i've set foot in, all totally intact and unmolested. The ground floor houses several looms and a small laundering department. The middle floor is the sewing floor with upteen machines all still covered in dust sheets like the day they left them. The top floor is mainly storage but with a small workshop at one end that looked to have been used as a dumping ground for decades. The whole place is literally knee deep in old clothes, cloth, buttons, wool and thread. No 5S at work here!

Rumoured to have closed in 1999 but calenders indicated 2006.

Ground Floor

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[Speed]

Middle Floor

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Top Floor

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[Mr Beady]

ooo that's nice

 

[Vulex]

Nice job Speed.

 

[Exploring with Andy]

That's quite a special one, top machinery in there.

 

[Camera Shy]

That's a stunner. About time you brought something to the table :-)

 

[Dempsey]

Decent time warp. No power house?

 

[Speed]

Too small for a proper powerhouse. Not sure how they would have originally powered the machine mills. It's not near water.

 

[Yorrick]

Not sure how they would have originally powered the machine mills.

From Historic Scotland
"Hawick's story for the last few hundred years has revolved around textiles. This started with hand knitting of hose (socks) in the 1600s: spun wool and linen was also produced at an early date. In the 1700s hand power was largely replaced by water power and a complex arrangement of sluices and lades (culverts) was constructed to provide the town's 50 textile mills with enough water to keep them working. "

To the North West of the mill there is a substantial weir on the River Teviot that appears to create a mill pond. The green space behind the mill and running off towards Buccleuch park may have carried a lade?

 

[clebby]

From Historic Scotland
"Hawick's story for the last few hundred years has revolved around textiles. This started with hand knitting of hose (socks) in the 1600s: spun wool and linen was also produced at an early date. In the 1700s hand power was largely replaced by water power and a complex arrangement of sluices and lades (culverts) was constructed to provide the town's 50 textile mills with enough water to keep them working. "

To the North West of the mill there is a substantial weir on the River Teviot that appears to create a mill pond. The green space behind the mill and running off towards Buccleuch park may have carried a lade?

Possibly, but the original mill building conprised only hand looms (there'd have been a stocking frame under each of the characteristic square windows). I suspect the powered loom extension was only built once steam power was more ubiquitous - as I recollect there was a lean-to at the rear which could have housed a small engine once. There was a chimney on that corner of the building too I think.

 

[jST]

This is fantastic. Nice one