Camperdown Works

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View from Dundee Law over the High Mill and Cox's Stack

The Camperdown Works were a textile manufacturing company in the Scottish city ​​of Dundee in the Council Area Dundee City. The High Mill , which has been preserved to this day , was included in the Scottish list of monuments in 1965 in the highest monument category A. The associated Cox's stack is classified separately as a Category A structure. The former mill complex has meanwhile been converted into living space.

history

During the industrial revolution in the 19th century, Dundee developed into one of the most important locations for the textile industry in the United Kingdom . At the wedding in the late 19th century, around 60 textile mills were in operation there, employing more than 50,000 people. Around two thirds of the workers were women.

The Cock family , later renamed Cox , had been involved in textile production since the 18th century. James Cox founded the Camperdown Works in 1850. Unlike similar operations that were built in the same period, the Camperdown Works were planned to be full-size from the start and then built in several phases from 1857. A branch line secured the movement of goods between the Camperdown Works and the international port of Dundee. With more than 5000 employees, it developed into the largest jute spinning mill in the world. In 1981 the company was closed. Various buildings were then demolished and the High Mill divided into apartments.

High mill

The 150 m long High Mill, also known as the Silver Mill , is on Methven Street, northwest of downtown Dundee. It was built in three phases between 1857 and 1868. The north-facing main facade of the three-storey part of the building on the north side is 40 axes wide. Two risalits emerge from the facade . The tympana of its concluding triangular gable are designed with arched windows with keystones . A 30 m high stair tower rises on the northeast edge. Pilasters flank the arched window on its third floor. The tower tapers above it. Above the cornice with a tooth cut , it is continued octagonal with a curved cast iron hood. The southern part of the building has two floors.

Cox's stack

Cox's stack

The Cox's Stack chimney, completed in 1866, stands at the eastern end of the former company premises. The 86 m high landmark is considered to be the most architecturally valuable industrial fireplace in Scotland. The exhaust gases from the 57  steam engines used to operate the machinery were channeled underground and released in bundles via the Cox's Stack. The brick building is designed in the style of a campanile . Its edges are finished with banded pilasters made of red and yellowish bricks. They flank arched recesses, each with nine slotted windows and one round window. The tower is continued in an octagonal shape above the projecting cornice.

James Cox, chairman of the Tay Bridge consortium , arranged the bridge so that passengers arriving in Dundee could see Cox's Stack over the shoulder of the Dundee Law .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ a b Entry on Camperdown Works  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  4. ↑ The Scotsman: Dundee jute baron's fund to help create new jobs , September 4, 2013.
  5. ^ A b c Charles McKean, Patricia Whatley, Kenneth Baxter: Lost Dundee: Dundee's Lost Architectural Heritage , Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84158-562-8

Web links

Coordinates: 56 ° 28 ′ 21.4 "  N , 3 ° 0 ′ 23.7"  W.