Description

1816-17 cotton mill. L-plan southern wing, 203 Old Rutherglen
Road, built 1817-21. 4-storey 10-bay brick with stone base
and dressings to large central arch cart entrance. Modern
sash windows. Slate roof. Interior: ground and 1st floor modern
offices. 2nd and 3rd retain cast-iron columns, lengthwise
wooden beam and supports for former line shafting. Wooden
attic is free of columns. Each floor connects with S bay of
main mill.
Main Mill, 1816-17. 6-storey 5-by 21-bay mill, brick with
stone base course and eaves cornices. The central portion of
each side elevation is slightly advanced.
Elevation to road: 5 bays, left bay containing stairs, right
bay a hoist, still in position, which had doors on each floor
below it. Another hoist faced W, doors still in position. 12
E. and 9 W. bays have original brick wall, windows and
cornice. A further 5 W bays to the liftshaft are a more
modern rebuild, retaining the original window pattern and
fronting original iron framed interior. Exterior is
substantially altered N of lift shaft.
N 4 bays are narrower due to the removal of large engine
house. Ground floor retains part of old arcaded boiler house.
Square stack. Attic is 20th century except southern bay which
has original wood and slate roof. Most windows are
iron-framed top-hoppers, wood or iron casement, or modern.
Interior: iron-framed with 2 rows of cast-iron Doric columns,
thicker on the ground and 1st floors than above. Cast-iron
beams carry low brick-arched ceilings and fittings for line
shafting. The S bay has a spiral stair, iron beams at right
angles to those in the rest of the mill and the original
wooden roof.

Statement of Interest

The oldest surviving iron-framed mill in Glasgow, possibly

the oldest in Scotland. Internal features are especially

important. First owned by Robert Humphreys Cotton Spinner,

Millfield Hutchesontown, then by Robert Thomson, also of

Adelphi Cotton Works. The subject of industrial disputes in

1824 (2 shootings in Ballater Street) and 1837 (when some of

Thomson's employees were attacked). Probably ceased spinning

in the 1860s. Cleland wrote in 1816 that "2 mills lately

completed in Hutchesontown are fireproof and the cost of

each, including machinery is upwards of $40,000." 2 storey

block NE of mill is not listed. The N section of the mill

was altered in, perhaps, the 1920s.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17814289

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)