Knockando Woolmill

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Knockando Woolmill
Detail of an installed carding machine

The Knockando Woolmill is a water mill in the Scottish village of Knockando in the Council Area Moray . In 1995 the structure was included in the Scottish monument lists in the highest monument category A. Furthermore, it forms a category A monument ensemble with the associated commercial and residential buildings.

history

Knockando was already producing wool at the beginning of the 18th century. Knockando Woolmill was founded in 1784 by a Grant family. In 1851 the company was described as a fulling mill . A carding operation operated by Simon Fraser is also listed. Around this time a two-story annex was added in which machines for carding and spinning wool were vertically united under one roof.

In the 1860s, Knockando Woolmill was taken over by Alexander Smith , who ran the company as A Smith and Son . A spinning mule was installed in 1870 and twenty years later the inner partition between the original building and the extension was removed to make room for a new carding machine for processing ceilings. Furthermore, a new spinning mule with 120 spindles was installed. In economic terms, the company was in its heyday towards the end of the 19th century, which was reflected in the modernization of the facilities and the addition of a shop and the renovation and expansion of buildings.

The economic boom of the textile mill, which at that time mainly produced tweed , blankets and knitting wool, ended in the early 20th century . The First World War brought a brief upswing when the company had a contract with the Ministry of Defense to supply the armed forces with woolen blankets. With the electrification of the facility in 1948, the mill canal and water wheel became obsolete. In the following decade most of the local textile industry either expanded or was forced out of the market. The Knockando Woolmill was operated unchanged until the 1970s by the aging Duncan Stewart , a nephew of the Smith family, and then closed. The Knockando Mill Company acquired the business in 1986. It has since been restored and is now operated by the Knockando Woolmill Trust . The company can be visited. The Knockando Woolmill is now one of the smallest preserved vertical textile mills in Scotland. Its historic machinery has largely been preserved and some of it is in operation. The products include tweed products.

The Knockando Woolmill Trust raised £ 1.3m from the Heritage Lottery Fund to help finance the restoration . Previously, the project was presented as a Scottish finalist in the BBC series Restoration , but without winning.

The British heir to the throne, Prince Charles, officially reopened before the final work was completed . In recognition of its outstanding contribution to the preservation of cultural heritage, the mill received the Europa Nostra Prize as one of four British projects in 2016 . In 2017, Highlands and Islands Enterprise committed up to £ 100,000 to expand operations. A loan was also provided by Historic Environment Scotland .

description

The Knockando Woolmill is located on the Knockando Burn stream on the southeast edge of the small scattered settlement Knockando. With the extension from the 19th century, the mill has an L-shaped floor plan. Your masonry is made of stone; the gable roof is covered with corrugated iron. A mill canal branches off water from the Knockando Burn and leads it to a clay pipeline, which is partly laid underground, which supplies the overshot water wheel with water.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  2. ↑ a b c Information from the Knockando Woolmill Trust
  3. ↑ Entry on Knockando Woolmill  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  4. ↑ Information from the Knockando Mill Trust
  5. ↑ Information from the Heritage Fund
  6. ↑ European Commission: Europa Nostra EU Prize for Cultural Heritage 2016 for Knockando Woolmill of Aberlour ( Memento of October 16, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Information from Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Web links

Coordinates: 57 ° 27 '57.9 "  N , 3 ° 21' 19.4"  W.