Donside Paper Mills

E72

DescriptionDetails Site of mills, Gordon's Mills and later Donside Paper Mills. There have been a series of mills on and near this site since at least the 17th century and probably earlier. Gordon's Mills are presumably earlier than 1639, when William Gordon of Gordon's Mills was reportedly wounded at the battle at the Bridge of Dee. According to Milne, the mill or mills were first of all for meal. Later they became a woollen manufactory and subsequently a paper mill. G M Fraser asserts that Gordon's Mills was the site of the first paper mill in Aberdeen, opened by Patrick Sandilands in 1696 and that by 1703 it had become a textile mill referred to as 'Northmills at Gordon's Mills'. The map of Scotland drawn by Robert Gordon of Straloch in 1654 depicts what appears to be a settlement called Gordonsmill, while the map of 1661, by his son James Gordon of Rothiemay, shows Gordon's Mill. Gordon's Mills appear on Taylor's map of 1773, where several buildings are shown, including some which seem to be in the northern part of the present site. In the mid 19th century part of the site at Gordon Mills was occupied by Alexander Hadden and Sons, one of the major textile manufacturers in Aberdeen. In 1850 the company was in the business of spinning wool and manufacturing hosiery and woollen cloth. On the first Ordnance Survey map made of the area, in 1867-69, the woollen mill is shown in the northern portion of the area, situated partly within and partly outside the present site, while an additional corn mill is depicted approximately 250 metres to the south-east, next to the riverbank. By that date, if not before, the name Gordon's Mills seems to have come to refer to the area around and between the woollen mill and the corn mill. From the end of the 19th century paper making became the dominant industry on the site, at first using some of the original buildings. In 1888 the mill was converted for the manufacture of brown paper wrappings under the name of Gordon's Mills Paper Co., the name changed to Donside Paper Company in 1893 after the business was taken over by John Laing and Co of Dundee. On the 1926 Ordnance Survey map, the woollen mill still occupies the northern portion of the area, while Donside Paper Mills is represented to the south-east by an extensive complex of buildings. Trial trenching excavation was carried out in 2003 on area of approximately 10 hectares on the south Bank of the River Don, a substantial portion of the which was occupied by the buildings of the former Donside Paper Company, which ceased operations in 2001 see (NJ90NW0592) Trenches towards the north of the site next to the river revealed levels of compact clays under large depths of modern rubble suggesting dumping of building materials and rubbish in the area in the 20th century. A trench was situated in a meadow south-east of Don Cottage revealed a stone-filled drain from which 19th-century finds were recovered. Trenches in the lower car park contained two mill lades which had been backfilled with large stone and brick rubble, demolition material from a nearby building. They can be seen on the 1867 Ordnance Survey map of the area. In the upper car park a line of 19th-century workers cottages was uncovered with an associated drain, sewer pipe and cobbled surface. The industrial history of this area, and of the present site within it, is complex and as yet imperfectly understood. See also NJ90NW0858, NJ90NW0860, NJ90NW1007, NJ90NW0592. Trial trenching evaluation was carried out by MAS in May 2010 on two areas of the Donside Urban Village development site. At the north end of the site, trenches were excavated in the area of a construction of a hydroelectric scheme on what was in the 19th century a diversion of part of the river to supply the mills with water power, and which was subsequently used as a dumping ground, with industrial dumping filling the former channel. The trenches revealed part of the channel and base of the weir for the water power to the 19th century mill. A trench at the south end of the site cut through deep deposits of dumped ash and cinder from the mill. A standing building survey was carried out of Don Cottage which had been seriously damaged by fire. Dating from the 1830s-40s this had been a 2-storey harled brick villa with French windows at ground floor level and a balcony at first floor level supported by rustic style timber columns.
Location InfoNational Grid Reference: NJ 9322 0935
Easting: 393228.449283295, Northing: 809352.017901162

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