Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

CROFTHEAD MILL,NEILSTONLB18959

Status: Designated

Documents

There are no additional online documents for this record.

Summary

Category
B
Date Added
29/01/1991
Local Authority
East Renfrewshire
Planning Authority
East Renfrewshire
Parish
Neilston
NGR
NS 47338 57383
Coordinates
247338, 657383

Description

Very large cotton spinning and thread-twisting mills set into hillside. Founded 1792, oldest mill dated 1858, large extension on Oldham models 1880-1. Whitewashed brick buildings with segmental arched heads to windows, corbel tables and blocking courses.

West Mill: 5-storey, 8-by 19-bay mill. Off-centre oval stair tower dated 1858 (R J & F Alexander's Glasgow Mill has a similar stair). Some sills of 3rd floor windows lowered. Later lavatory, rest and stair towers added to S elevation. Low multi-ridged roof concealed behind parapet. 6-pane glazing patterns to windows.

No 1 Mill: 6-storey (top floor said to be a last minute addition) 8-by 15-bay mill. Dentil cornice at 4th and 5th floors. Rectangular-section 3-bay stair and water tower to centre of W elevation. Top stage with round headed windows, corbelled balustrade and wrought-iron angle finials. French pavilion roof removed circa 1970. Multi-ridged shallow slate roofs to mill. 9-and 120-pane glazing patterns to windows.

Engine house projects at SW, 2-by 4-bay with 2 tiers of round-headed windows, those at ground altered on insertion of mezzanine. Rope race (with 2 tiers of dentil cornices and pedestrian bridge to site of Pirn Mill)links engine house to mill and square-section hoist tower. Piended slate roof with ridge ventilator. Pend underneath link from engine house to West Mill.

To N: lower 4-by 1-bay block adjoins N elevations of No 1 mill, perhaps also a rope race. Brick gable indicates site of further engine or turbine house. Single-storey and basement 3-bay link (with later gable) to: 3-storey and basement 11-by 6-bay block with tall ground floor, gable dated 1881. 3 piended slate roofs. Loading bay, perhaps originally a boiler house; 6-bay arcaded W elevation. Piended sheet-metal-clad roof. Impressive group of lades and ponds uphill to S, partly 18th-19th century, partly remodelled in concrete circa 1928. High curved squared-rubble coped boundary walls to road which crosses water systems by a rubble-built bridge. Brick-built gatepiers at main road with curved single-storey lodge, circa 1950, windows blocked.

Interior: No 1 Mill fireproof with single brick arches between cast-iron columns and beams. Remainder not seen.

Statement of Special Interest

Established 1792 by Stewart, Orr & Co. In 1859, on the death of James Orr, combined with R J & F Alexander of Duke St Glasgow, to amalgamate in 1898 with English Sewing Ltd (descendents of Richard Arkwright, Masson and Belper, Derbyshire) as a thread twisting mill. The original mill, the largest in the district, and comparable to Cartside Mill, was burned down twice, once shortly after construction, and again in 1880. Later post cards show a cut down part of it surviving, with a later clock tower. The site is now a car park. The architect of No 1 Mill was probably either A H or Joseph Stott, Edward Potts or John Wild, all of Oldham and designers of cotton mills world-wide. In Scotland the only comparable buildings are the Glasgow Cotton Spinners remaining mill at Carstairs Street, Glasgow and the more unusual Anchor and Ferguslie Mills, Paisley. Originally water powered, supplemented by steam engines in 1870s, a steam turbine in 1928 and individual electric drives in 1953. A Pirn mill was added to the South in about 1900 to make bobbins, closed and demolished in 1968, leaving only the gates and railings.

References

Bibliography

Hume (1976) p217; Irene Hughson NEILSTON MILL: THE SURVIVOR (Barrhead and Neilston Historical Association, Occasional Paper No 1)

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 29/03/2024 06:18