Grandholm Mills

1715

Grandholm Mills

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.

The bridge shown in this photograph is the old wooden bridge that was known locally as the "White Bridge". It was built by the firm of Leys, Masson and Company in 1810 to improve access to its Granholm Works. It was replaced in 1922 by the present steel structure, built by the Motherwell Bridge Company.

Woodside

Industry

 

 

C54_11

Aberdeen Local Studies

"I used to work at Crombies at Grandholm. It was a woollen mill, we had to climb up and down steep steps to get to it. There was pay day and also sweetie day when we went to the shop and got some sweeties."

(Memories of working life at the mill from the Torry Reminiscence Group.)

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