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Culter Paper Mills
163 Culter Paper Mills, the oldest paper mill in the Aberdeen area, having been founded in 1750 by Bartholomew Smith.
The Gordon Arms Hotel can also be seen in the lower right of the image. Stoneywood Paper Mills
389 A photograph showing an interior view of Stoneywood Paper Mills. The image shows a large hall full of workers and machinery producing large sheets of paper. The Puffing Briggie
532 A scene of change and renovation in the Denburn Valley. The image looks south from Union Bridge over the suburban platforms of the old Aberdeen Joint Railway Station. The old station's large, curved roof can be seen in the background.
The area we are looking at has seen much change since this time. It is now largely covered by the 1960s retail development on the south side of the bridge, the later Trinity Centre, the development of Wapping Street and Denburn Road, and the building of Atholl House. Though many of the buildings of note we can see in this image are still visible today.
The tall buildings on the far right are the rear of those on Bridge Street. The small street in front of them, going up to Guild Street, is the start of College Street. It is now a partially pedestrianised lane that goes under Wapping Street. The building at the top of this street is the classical style suburban ticket office, built 1909 and now home to Tiffany Hair & Beauty.
Going west along Guild Street's two span road bridge we come to the Great North of Scotland Railway Company's headquarters. This was designed by architects Ellis & Wilson and built in 1894. It is now part of the Station Hotel, along with number 78 next door. The building retains many of its original features. The Guild Street entrance to the Trinity Centre now runs along the western side of this building.
The image also shows features that are no longer present. The covered walkway that can be seen on the near right of the image enabled direct access from the station's central platform to the Palace Hotel on Union Street. The hotel was owned by the Great North of Scotland Railway Co. (GNSR). The walkway was vaulted to pass over the tracks at sufficient height.
Consulting The Joint Station: Aberdeen Station, 1867-1992 (c1992), this image probably dates from 1912 when, in additional to commencing the reconstruction of the Joint Station, the GNSR also laid new loading docks and carriage storage siding in the Hadden Mills site (left of image). This was to ensure that the main station buildings were used purely for passenger traffic.
The walkway that linked Windmill Brae and the Green, known affectionately as the Puffing Briggie, can be seen in the centre of the image. It looks like a section on the left has been temporarily demolished as part of the ongoing work.
The sidings on the extreme left were used for cleaning carriages in the later 20th century. One of our correspondents recounts using the often-unattended carriages, accessible when entering the station from the Green, as an unusually exciting and plush playground during their youth in the late-1940s. Jack's Brae
710 A photograph looking north west up Jack's Brae, from its junction with Upper Denburn, in the Rosemount area. Jack's Brae was named after the owner of property there. This photograph likely dates from the mid-to-late 19th century.
The Ordnance Survey town plan of Aberdeen, 1:500 scale, surveyed in 1866-67 depicts a "Coffee Roasting and Grinding Works" at the top of Jack's Brae at its junction with Leadside Road. A large chimney of these works can be seen on the right side of this image in the distance.
These works were the premises of John Strachan. In the Aberdeen Post Office Directory for 1867-68, Strachan is described as follows:
"Strachan, John, coffee roaster, coffee, sugar, and sugar grinder, Jack's brae" (page 213).
Aberdeen City Council's Historic Environment Record describes the site thusly:
"Site of meal mills, built in the 18th - 19th Centuries and demolished in the 1980s. The works was two-storey with a basement, comprising a 9-bay range with a single kiln and a three-storey with attic 5 by 6-bay block of later date. There were also two 2-storey store blocks. The mill was originally water powered, later electrically driven. The OS 1st edition map depicts a coffee roasting and grinding works here; they are annotated as corn mills on the OS 25in map published 1924." (link here).
The business was known as John Strachan & Sons and the works as Gilcomston Mill. The business was started in around 1852 and John Strachan was succeeded as its proprietor by his son James Strachan (1838-1914). His obituary can be found in the Evening Express of 28th December 1914, page 5. His son, John Strachan, was later to become the business's managing director. The obituary of this later John Strachan can be found in the Press & Journal of 1st July 1935, page 8.
At the time of writing in 2022, the site is occupied by a residential complex called Strachan Mill Court - no doubt named after the coffee roasting and milling enterprise. Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen
810 Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site later partially covered by the Odeon Cinema building, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s.
The wagon in front of the buildings is painted with the business name James Alexander & Son, Grain Merchants. The 1866-67 Ordnance Survey large scale town plan of Aberdeen indicates that Lower Justice Mill was a corn mill.
A black cat can also be seen in the centre right of the image and a woman carrying some type of load is in front of the waterwheel.
Correspondent Geoffrey Mann has been in touch to inform us that in 1793 there was a miller at the Justice Mills called George Reid. This information was found from an Old Machar baptismal record for his and Margaret Smith's (his wife) daughter Elizabeth.
Coincidentally, there was another George Reid (1826-1881) who was a partner in the prominent seedsmen and agricultural implement makers, Messrs Benjamin Reid & Co., who had their Bon-Accord Works just to the east of the Justice Mills. The obituary of this later George Reid from The Aberdeen Journal 16/07/1881 states that at the time his death he lived with his two sisters in Justice Mill Lane. Culter
876 This image was taken around 1909 from a hill at the west end of Culter - 7 miles west from Aberdeen looking down on the North Deeside Road towards Banchory. The image shows the cottages known as Clayhills with the houses of Malcolm Road beyond. Hidden in the trees at the right hand side is the statue of Rob Roy overlooking the Leuchar Burn which runs through the wooded valley. Rob Roy statue number 2, Culter
960 The statue of Rob Roy at Culter - number 2, 1850-1926. A Rob Roy figure has stood on this rocky ledge high above the Leuchar Burn just before it reached Culter Paper Mills for around 150 years. It has become a tourist attraction for those travelling on the North Deeside Road at Peterculter, about 8 miles from Aberdeen. However, there is no historical evidence to support the legend that Rob Roy MacGregor left the gorge to escape his pursuers. The original figure is supposed to have been a figurehead from a Peterhead whaling ship and it was replaced in about 1865 with the carved wooden stature seen here. It apparently suffered damage before the First World War when local Territorial soldiers practised their firing skills on it. However, by 1925, the figure was in a poor state due to the effects of time and weather. A committee was appointed to secure a new stature and an Aberdeen woodcutter, David Graham, created a figure from a nine foot high block of Quebec yellow pine. It was unveiled on 3 July 1926. This figure lasted until 1991, when it had to be replaced again after being damaged by vandals. Kennerty Smiddy, Culter
962 Kennerty Smiddy, Culter.
This building was demolished and modern housing now occupies the site. Culter War Memorial
994 A photograph showing the unveiling of a new panel at Culter War Memorial on Sunday 19th June 1949.
The article 'Tribute to War Dead of Culter' from the Press & Journal of 20th June 1949, page 6, describes the ceremony as follows:
"A panel containing the names of 29 men from the parish who lost their lives in the recent war was unveiled at Culter War Memorial yesterday.
"Relatives of the fallen and representatives of the Boys' Brigade, Girl Guides, Brownies, and the Territorial Army were grouped round the memorial as Mrs Tough, Hillside Road, Culter, who lost two sons in the war, unveiled the tablet.
"The panel was dedicated by the Rev. J. R. Dey, Kelman Memorial Church, who, along with the Rev. T. W. Howie, St Peter's Church, conducted the service"
Culter War Memorial is a tapering, crenelated tower located on a hillock to the west of the village. It is accessed by a footpath that leaves North Deeside Road not far beyond the bridge over the Culter Burn.
Correspondent Brian Coutts has been in touch to inform us that one of the representatives of the Brownies present at the ceremony was Elizabeth McNab.
The abovementioned sons of Mrs Jane Tough of Hillside Road were Driver Frank Tough, Royal Corps of Signals, formerly an employee of Culter Paper Mills, who was killed by enemy action in the Middle East on 24th September 1942, aged 24, and Private Ernest "Ernie" Tough, 2nd Gordons, who died on 5th October 1943, aged 26, while a prisoner-of-war in Thailand. (Source: Press & Journal, 26th September 1946, page 3.)
The former, Frank Tough, is buried at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial in Egypt and Ernest is buried Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Myanmar. (Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.) Kelman Memorial Church, Culter
996 Kelman Memorial Church, Culter - in 1843 at the Disruption, the Rev. Robert Thomson set up a Free Church congregation in Culter. They worshipped at a building at Contlaw, 3 miles from the village. In 1893, the congregation, under the Rev. John Kelman, agreed that a more central site was required. The foundation stone was laid on 28 April 1894 and the church, designed by John Rust, was opened on 16 February 1895. This snowy scene shows the Norman style of architecture of the church, which was constructed of granite from Rubislaw Quarry, Aberdeen. After the reunion of the Free Church with the Church of Scotland in October 1929, the decision was taken to rename this church the Kelman Memorial Church in remembrance of Rev. Dr. Kelman, who had died only a few months earlier. This left 2 Church of Scotland churches in Culter but, in March 1999, St. Peter's and Kelman Memorial were amalgamated to form Peterculter Parish Church, with this building chosen to continue for the future. St. Peter's may become a heritage museum. Culter Boys' Brigade
999 A photograph showing Culter Boys' Brigade collecting waste paper and scrap metal during World War 2.
In World War 2, major campaigns were set up to encourage people to collect as much waste material as possible for recycling. Here we see members of Culter Boys' Brigade loading a lorry with waster paper and scrap metal, including part of an iron bedstead.
The lorry had been lent by William Gavin of Kennerty Meal Mills. All sorts of metal, including railings, were collected to be converted into munitions.
Country children were urged to collect tufts of sheep wool stuck on barbed wire fences or hedges so that it could be sent away to be spun into knitting wool to make gloves or socks for soldiers. Waste paper, including books, could be reprocessed and used in the manufacture of Stirling bombers.
Local historian Brian Coutts has been in touch to identify some of the boys on the lorry: At the front of the trio on the left is James "Jeeker" Brown; in the middle, behind the bins, is Derek Thom; and stood up on the far right of the image is Derek Stephen. Culter Boys' Brigade
1002 Culter Boys Brigade collecting wastepaper and scrap metal during World War 2.
As indicated on its side, the lorry belonged to William L. Gavin of Kennerty Mills. Gavin ran Kennerty Mills, in the south west of Culter, for nearly 50 years and was a past president of the Scottish Oatmeal Millers' Association. He was also an Aberdeen county councillor and a Justice of the Peace. Gavin died aged 90 on 14th July 1987. A brief obituary for him can be found in the Press & Journal of 16th July 1987 on page 3.
Correspondent Brian Coutts has been in touch to identify some of the boys on the lorry: "Bill Moncur (hiding behind a newspaper), Dennis Booth, "Jeeker" Broon, Bill Dey, Derek Thom, Derek Stephen and Adrian Semmence." Donside Paper Mill
1220 Donside Paper Mill. William Falconer attends the paper reels. c.1928.
The production of paper in the area goes back as far as 1696 at Gordon mills which later changed to a cloth mill, then meal mill before returning to paper production in 1890.
Donside Paper Company Ltd. took over in 1893 with many men and women from Woodside working in the Donside Paper Mill.
In 1913 a modern newsprint machine was installed (reportedly the fastest in the country). By the mid-1900s the mill modernised further and was home to the two fastest running paper machines in the North east. Lower Justice Mill
1258 Lower Justice Mill, Union Glen. Justice Mills of one kind or another are first mentioned in the 1300s, and were the site of a famous battle. In their final form, an Upper Justice Mill occupied a site subsequently partially covered by the Odeon Cinema, while the Lower Mill stood in Union Glen, at the bottom of the steep slope with its mill dam above and behind it (see water wheel centre left). The left hand part of the building and the wheel were removed when the cinema was built, the dam was drained and a thoroughfare created into Union Glen, but the central and right hand parts survived, albeit derelict, into the 1960s. Grandholm Mills
1715 The dinner hour, workers crossing the bridge over the River Don.
The history of the mills in Woodside has gone through prosperous and bad times with several being closed in the mid-1800s and subsequently reopened towards the end of the century. The success especially of the paper and cloth mills of the area has provided work for many generations of Woodsiders.
A linen and cloth factory moved to the Grandholme mills site in mid-18th century from Gordon Mills and was taken over by James and John Crombie in 1859. J&J Crombie went on to produce the famous worldwide Crombie cloth at the Grandholme Mill, leading to the long association between Woodside and the fabric. The mill at one point employed up to 3000 people.
J&J Crombie were included on a list of government suppliers and one tenth of all coats worn by British officers of the First World War were made with the Crombie cloth. By World War II 467 miles of the cloth was being produced at the Grandholme mill per year.
By 1960 Grandholm was the largest supplier of tweed in the UK and also produced silk, wool, cashmere and yarns. Sadly the business has now been moved away from the Woodside area to the Borders.
Peterculter Paper Mills
1720 Correspondent Brian Kennedy has kindly been in touch to identify this image as the showing the Culter Paper Mills, looking to the south east. Culter Burn can be seen on the right of the image. Stoneywood Paper Mills
1958 A photograph showing an interior view of Stoneywood Paper Mills. The image shows a large hall full of workers and machinery producing large sheets of paper. Stoneywood Paper Mill Canteen
1980 A photograph of a group of women enjoying tea in the garden of Stoneywood Paper Mills Canteen. These are the women who worked in the mills' counting house and were managed by William Ford. |