# A Paper Mill in Scotland – May 2008



## wolfism

This is a large paper mill in Scotland, which I visited with Pincheck and Cuban. It was on my list for quite a while, during which time I scratched around for information and gradually figured out its secrets. We spent the best part of a day wandering its sheds and towers, then just after exploring the final building we had to make a rapid exit …

Until the turn of the 21st century, Scotland had an extensive papermaking industry. Paper of every type was manufactured – cartridge, writing, printing, coated, artboard, kraft paper – using many different raw materials, including esparto grass, softwood, hardwood and flax. The concentration of mills in one part of Scotland is next in scale only to those of Lancashire, and in the south-east of England. Fortunately, some of these giant mills, like Tullis Russell at Markinch and Curtis Papers at Guardbridge are still working. This is one which isn’t.

















A small papermill first opened here in 1788, in a deep wooded ravine at the side of a fast-flowing river. It was built by the local laird for £500, and consisted of one vat which produced paper from cotton and linen rags. Compared to today’s industrial-scale paper manufacture, its output of a few tons each year was minisule. Over the years it was leased to a series of papermakers, and by 1818, a second mill had been built quarter of a mile upstream, sharing a common mill lade, and it manufactured paperboard from old tarred rope. As paper-making technology was born in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, new machines were invented and installed in the mills: the paperboard mill was producing 20 tons each week, a mix of board, cartridge and coloured papers. Five “Hollander” beaters were installed in the earlier papermill in the 1820’s: they were a large investment, so they were kept running day and night, producing pulp to feed the process – each beater needed around 40hp, which was provided by the mill’s steam engine. 
















The biggest draw on capital for the papermakers, though, was the “Fourdrinier” paper-making machine which the mill installed to complement their beaters. The Fourdrinier used an endless loop of woven wirecloth onto which the saturated paper pulp was sprayed – further down the machine, the wire was given a shake and most of the water drained through it. Next the “water leaf” of pulp passed onto a continuous “couch” of felt, on which it passed over a series of steam-heated drying cylinders. Watermarks were impressed into the paper using dandy rolls, and when the paper emerged at the dry end of the machine, it was ready to be cut. The Fourdrinier was invented in France in 1799, and first installed at Hemel Hempsted in 1803, closely followed by a machine at Culter Mills in Aberdeen. The earliest machines produced a web of paper 24 inches wide, which was gradually increased to 48 inches, until a revolutionary 80 inch high speed machine was displayed at the 1862 London International Exhibition. It was constructed by a famous Edinburgh paper engineering company … and so I can carry on telling the story of Bertrams, who I mentioned in my report on Fletchers’ Mill at Oldham.
















When they left school the Bertram brothers, George and William, worked with their father at Springfield Mill at Polton on the North Esk near Edinburgh. William was then apprenticed to an engineering works, while George became a papermaker at another of the mills on the Esk in 1837. As far as I know, although it once supported nine or ten, there are no mills left in the Esk Valley today …  George and William then joined together to build paper machines at St Catherine’s Works in Sciennes, Edinburgh. Their younger brother, James, started his own paper engineering company in 1845, building a works in Leith Walk. Together, the Bertram comapnies became world leaders in paper machinery, building a vast range of machines that included stuff catchers, paper cutters, beating engines, boilers, papermaking machines – and particularly relevant to this mill, conical esparto willows and patent esparto dusters. In contrast to Fletchers, which used flax and hemp as raw materials for thin ‘baccy paper, this mill originally used esparto grass to make a thick paperboard. The grass was imported from Spain and Tunisia and put through a machine called a willow to beat out the dust, then fed into digestors where a mix of lime and soda was added, then boiled for five hours. The caustic residue of “black liquor” was drained into storage tanks for later treatment; and the esparto was taken from the digestor to be washed and beaten in a “potcher”, which removed the soda and any residue of organic material. The pulp was then rinsed in a sodium carbonate solution, or bleached … then it was ready for the papermaking machine.


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## wolfism

*Paper Mill continued …*

By 1855, both of the papermills on this stretch of river had passed into the same ownership, and although they were bought and sold several times over the next few decades, their destinies were bound together from then on. In 1869, one of the mills installed a Bertrams No.50 papermaking machine which was 84 inches wide: it employed 200 people to make 800 tons of esparto printing paper annually. In 1880, a similar Bertrams machine was installed at the other papermill: it had an 81 inch wide “wire”, and eleven 4 foot diameter drying cylinders. In fact, by 1877, a new company had been created to run both mills as an entity: their combined site ran to nearly 30 acres, and the business continued to expand. The biggest change happened at the turn of the 20th century, when a major fire provided the impetus to integrate the two neighbouring papermills properly. The smaller of the two mills (which was the earlier) was shut in 1908, and the site was cleared to make way for a new 112 inch papermaking machine, one of the largest in the world. It was constructed by James Bertram’s company in 1909, and became the “No.3 Papermaking Machine”. A fourth paper machine and was installed in 1912, along with other paper equipment, much of it also supplied by Bertrams.
















The company changed hands twice in the 1920’s, but continued expanding as it concentrated on esparto paper: new buildings housed a production line for coated papers, and weekly output grew to 370 tons of coated and uncoated paper by the 1960’s. However, the mill started to lose money in the 1970’s, and a succession of managers tried to stem its decline – they shut down the No.1 and No.2 papermaking machines, each of which had been faithful servants for a century. The workforce declined from a high point of 600 people, but automation and rebuilding of the remaining two machines doubled paper production. Finally the mill was sold to an American corporation in 1981, and while the remaining old paper machines were shut down, a new “Twin Wire” machine was introduced, which made 40,000 tons of coated art board each year for greetings cards, CD cases and glossy packaging. In 1990 it passed back into Scottish hands, and remained in production until a few years ago … when it fell silent.
















So much for the history and statistics … the most powerful impression this mill made on me was how decayed it had become in the years since it shut. A great brick tower looms down over rusting steel-clad sheds with dark, cavernous interiors. The dampness and humidity have acted on the old parts of the mill, which went out of production in 1984, to decay everything from paintwork to steel and timber. We travelled over cast iron floor tiles into buildings from just before the Great War, with soot and chemical-stained brickwork, and octagonal columns that were cast at the very birth of reinforced concrete construction. Every surface is flaking and crumbling, the metal parts corroded through, each tread on the stairs is suspect. Old treatment tanks and lagoons still contain chemical residues that have reacted to create vivid colours. Nature is creeping into the joints in the brickwork, shrubs are sprouting in the steel water tank, and surrounding the mills are overhanging trees which shut out the outside world. Each time we crossed between buildings, the roar of a weir on the river reminded us why the mill had been built here; yet when we looked up, we were surrounded by silent, brooding buildings.
















The greatest discovery was that there were parts of a papermaking machine left in situ. I’d expected the worst, as research had turned up accounts of the machinery being sold, and presumably stripped out. Instead, the wet end of the Twin Wire machine was still in place; the drying cylinders had been stripped, but parts remained, including the massive carcass of the dry end, looming up in the darkness. The control room still had panel after panel of push buttons and mimic lamps, and motor ammeters reading in hundreds of amps. The Accuray machine, which measured the thickness of the paperboard using X-rays, was still there too. However, unlike the bright rooflit spaces inside Fletchers’ papermill, the Twin Wire machine at this mill sits in the darkness, with shafts of light penetrating the gloom and glinting off a metal casting or a length of railing. The character of the place is dark and mysterious, and the scale of everything is large: the papermaking machine was around four hundred feet long and twenty feet high. 
















Hunting through my bookshelf, I came across a commemorative book published by the papermakers in 2000, with a foreword by the mill’s manager, who looked forward to many years of future activity at the mill, because, _“… a papermill is a dull, dank and gloomy place if the machinery is shut down and there are no people making it work.”_ I guess that counts as an epitaph of sorts for the Scottish paper industry.


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## digitalxspace

Great report and pics!!! Well done  i especially love that second pic its great


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## Cuban B.




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## Neosea

Nice clean canteen. Cool find, great explore. Thanks for the photo's


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## NobodyGirl

pretty place! Love your shots!


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## spacepunk

What a fantastic place, great explore.


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## Pincheck

This is one huge place to go. What a test for my fractured back, That and coming straight off a 12hour nightshift to go and visit the place. mr Wolfism has this how can i put it effect on me when ever i go exploring with him(cuban will back me up on this :biglaugh i never sleep before hand that and its always silly oclock starts so finish at 6am and meeting them at 7:20:shocked::shocked: I must be daft and as usual we over ran on the time :err:by about 6 or 7 hours so we onl;y managed the one stop and reecy of 2 others after hot footing it out of dodge.


























bloody huge 




















































































































































































one of the few times i have seen a excited and smiling Wolfism (like a kid at christmas )when he discovered the machinery was still there :biglaugh:will post more tommorrow when i get the chance  hope this has been entertaining for you all


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## Reaperman

That looks like a brilliant place to visit, I'm pleased theres been a few industrial sites cropping up north of the border. I'd be interested in learning the location of this place (via PM.) Cheers. RM


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## zimbob

Nice one guys 

The usual high standard of research we've come to expect from you there *Wolfism*

If this is the place I think it is, I thought it was still live, I must be wrong


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## Bax__

Excellent photo's gents!

I've not done any industrial places yet, I need to get started...


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## foz101

Well done chaps. This mystery building looks like a lot of fun, and good to see there is machinery left in there, even though the big holes suggest a lot has been taken out.

I hope you were careful


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## Pincheck

some more pics


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## Pincheck

Last batch from me 































































































I would say we still missed some of this place but hey can't cover everything :biglaugh: wolfism has more thean likely better pics in his collection we had fun that day even if we had to leave the area sharpish thats the way it goes sometimes.


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## wolfism

I took almost 300 on the day, so there are a few shots which duplicate Cuban's and Pincheck's photos.

Cheers everyone for your comments - it's always satisfying to find somewhere "new".


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## Pincheck

Ah but wolfie your will be a shit load better thasn mine mate


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## sqwasher

Well done guys! :wcool: Some great pics of your visit. Wolfism's usual history lesson is always appreciated to add some context to the historical background. I must say this place looks MASSIVE! :wideeyed:


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## Foxylady

Just spent a very happy half hour or so viewing this report. Excellent write-up and very interesting history as always, Wolfism. Great pics, guys. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing this site...you can tell how much you all enjoyed being there too, which is lovely.


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## TurboZutek

Lookin' good boys! I've said it before but, Struan is the UE capital of Scotland! 

That sandstone house down near the front looks pretty nifty - was that abandoned too or in use still?

Chris...


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## Billy & Jase

*Poss location?*

Hi, is it possible to get an exact location of the mill?

cheers.

Billy an jase.


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## wolfism

TurboZutek said:


> Lookin' good boys! I've said it before but, Struan is the UE capital of Scotland!
> 
> That sandstone house down near the front looks pretty nifty - was that abandoned too or in use still?
> 
> Chris...



Cheers mate - alas, "Struan House" was the only part we couldn't access, and I've since found out it has some nice stained glass as well. Pity ...


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## SonorG

Great pics - great place, very interesting


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## TurboZutek

wolfism said:


> Cheers mate - alas, "Struan House" was the only part we couldn't access, and I've since found out it has some nice stained glass as well. Pity ...



Looks good for sure... Might be one to keep an eye on if it's local to you! I'm guessing (with proximity) it would be the mill owners? They weren't short of a bob or two in the glory days, at least.

Chris...


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## dazzababes

Although not originally called "Straun House", it was built for the owner of another mill in the vicinity, and I believe it eventually became offices for the mill in the grounds of which it sits, which is where it took it's current name from.


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## wolfism

Cheers for posting that Dazza, that image appears in the commemorative book I mentioned, I think … the Ford Model "T", like the house itself, belonged to the owner of the first mill to be established, then when the two mills were merged the house was all that survived of the earlier business. It's listed now, and if the mill itself is redeveloped, the house may once again be all that survives; in the meantime, it was used as offices and latterly for mess facilities, AFAIK.


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## MonkeyGirl

Great looking explore guys! Looks like it would take a alot of hours to get around it all


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## Pincheck

most of the day thats for sure there was a part we missed but after a 12 nightshift i just wanted a sleep but we had a reccy of another place or 2 to do


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## skittles

I am jealous such a great place and so well photographed

Most of all thanks for the history, brilliantly done.


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## rossmcd

*mill*

hi,
thats some mill, wouldn't mind a visit could you contact to discuss.

Ross


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## thematic

Great Pictures folks, I served my apprenticeship as a mechanical fitter there but left a couple of years before it closed. It is quite sad to see it like that but life must go on and I will forever be fond of the place. In one of your pictures I can see a gearbox sitting on a very rusty steel frame over one of the lagoons in the effluent building, I built and installed that frame and gearbox as a project when I was an apprentice, as usual with the mill the gearbox was robbed from a tank in one of the buildings which was known as the 'old side'. The effluent building itself being the old machine hall for the machines shut down in the early 80's, trust me the roof was falling in even when I was there, it always was a dank dingy place to work.

Good that you got into the workshops just a pity there are no pics of the lathes, milling machines, grinders and drilling machines that I used to use.

Many of the areas pictured were old and abandoned long before the mill shut, anytime I wanted to hide from my boss I would go walking round the old parts of the place and even then it was like walking back in time, its such an old site with so much history that is now going forever. 

Keep up the good work....


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## wolfism

Hi Thematic,

Thanks for your comments – I'm fascinated that you fitted the gearbox, then came across its photo here many years later. I'm glad we got the chance to explore the papermill, but sadly, the papermaker who owned this mill shut the other Scottish mills they owned, too. I'm sure you'll also feel that it's "the end of an era" for papermaking as a whole …

Anyhow, I can imagine that the engineering shop was well equipped: there were only a couple of machine tools left by the time we visited, but plenty holding-down bolts in the floor …


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## thematic

Hi Wolfism

Came as a surprise to me to see so many pictures of the place, so many memories came flooding back, I was trying to find out about an old property I bought in the area when I came across this site. Stunning is the only word to describe this site, the pictures here will forever be part of the local history of many places and I applaud the efforts of you all in spending time to document these places, if not, a lot of these sites would be completely lost to the pages of time.

If interested the gearbox I was talking about is in the 16th pic from the top, just to the left of the life jacket/ danger sign, and in Pincheck's post number 13 8th pic down is the tank I removed the box from (90% certain). I know, I should get out more .


Yes it's the end of an era for papermaking in Scotland, the town where you pictured that mill had at least 5 paper mills, think they were Stoneywood, The Vale, Anchor Mills, Carrongrove and Headswood, Headswood still surviving in part as a foundry and storage facility the last I looked. 

At least part of the papermill legacy will live on with me as the training and depth of trade skills I learned in the industry are second to none.

By the way, last time I passed the place (3 weeks ago) the demolition crews were moving fast.

Almost forgot, in September there is an open day in the mill offices, last chance to see inside before it is developed into flats, I imagine the stain glass window will still be retained but it is well worth a look as it is spectacular.

link here... http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/opendays/area_programmes.aspx?areaid=17

Thanks again


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## foz101

Another on doorsopen? These Doors Open days are absolutely brilliant.


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