Welcome
toHayford Mill, Cambusbarron
The following are extracts from the book "Bygone Days in Cambusbarron" and have been reproduced here with the kind permission of the Author Mr P.T. Paterson, a resident in Cambusbarron.
Hayford
Mill, or Cambusbarron Mill as it is sometimes called, was built on land
feued from Cowane’s Hospital in 1834 by three Cambusbarron men, John
Campbell, William Watson and Alexander Donaldson, the latter two of whom
previously owned spinning premises in the village. The building at this
time occupied a much smaller area than it was to do so later, the first
feu consisting of, in the original dimensions, I rood, 24 falls Scots
(over 1/3 of an acre), the second in 1837, of 3 roods, 14 falls, 2 ells
Scots (just less than acre). But it was not until the 1840s, possibly
1845, when the Mill was acquired by Robert Smith and Sons that it
flourished into a major business.
Robert Smith was already a prominent businessman when he became
proprietor of Hayford Mill. In the 1820s he had been a wool spinner in
Cowane Street; he then became the owner of the Old Bridge Mill in
Stirling. He was also conspicuous in municipal affairs, becoming first a
burgess guild brother of the town, then a baillie, and finally Dean of
Guild in 1832. Under his influence, and that of his son, also Robert,
Hayford Mill expanded to become, with the notable exception of Carron
Iron Works, the largest factory in Stirlingshire, and at one stage the
largest tweed manufactory under one roof in Scotland.
When Robert senior died in 1859, his estate included £2069 worth of
machinery in the Mill stock worth £3,700 and Hayford House which he had
built in 1850. His son continued the expansion, feuling yet more land in
1862 for additional building. By 1869 at Hayford Mill, (or Hayford and
Parkvale Mill as it was by then known) spinning and weaving winceys and
other cotton and tweed
materials, employed over 950 people, who collectively earned
approximately £19,000 p.a., producing goods with an annual value of
£170,000. There were 530 power looms in the weaving section, and 13 sets
of carding engines in the spinning department and all the machinery was
driven by six steam engines with a combined 300 horse power. In 1871 the
factory was further enlarged and over 1200 people were then employed. In
1875 the firm was sufficiently prosperous for Robert Smith to build the
impressive mansion house of Brentham Park near Annfield. There had,
however, been some hiccups along this successful path of Victorian
enterprise.
In 1860, for example, the firm was in dispute with Stirling Town Council
over the alleged pollution of the Forth, caused, claimed the town, by
the dyes from the Mill being emptied into the nearby burn (“Raploch
Burn”, “Dirty Burn”, “Mill Lead” and “Burnside” are all names that have
been applied to this ancient stream; its oldest is best: “Glenmoray
Burn”) and thereby into the Forth at the Raploch, where, it was said,
the salmon fishing was adversely affected. Of more concern was the
effect on trade of the American Civil War during the early 1860’s when
supplies of cotton declined alarmingly, and in 1887 a serious fire
destroyed part of the building. But most disastrous was the closure of
the Mill in 1896.
Exactly why this highly successful enterprise collapsed is not clear. It
is true that the textile industry nationally had been in decline since
the 1860’s but the failure of Hayford may have been more due to internal
disharmony and mismanagement than to the vagaries of international
trade. This was certainly the view of James Jackson early career was
spent at Hayford before moving to the Bridge of Allan firm of Robert
Pullar and Sons, of which he eventually became director. Certainly
something dramatic happened in October 1895 when Robert Smith abruptly
left the area and moved (with his capital perhaps?) to London where he
died five years later. A year after Smith’s departure, Hayford and
Parkvale Mills closed on October 19th, 1896.The effect on Cambusbarron
was profound. Hundreds of people were thrown out of work at a stroke.
There was little alternative employment. While a pit had been sunk at
Cowie in 1894, others at Fallin were not opened until 1904.
The three phases of reservoir construction on Touch Estate for Stirling
Waterworks had long since been completed; those at North Third and
Earlshill were some ten years off. The increase in the village
population, from 657 in 1841 to 1230 in 1881 — almost double in on
generation —had largely been brought about by the attraction of the Mill
as a source of employment. Within one year 1895 — 1896, the school roll
in Cambusbarron dropped by a quarter, and even as late as 1904 — eight
years after the closure — the number of parish electors in the village
had climbed only as high as 299 in comparison with 336 in 1895. Various
attempts to revive the Mill were largely unsuccessful.
During the First World War troops were billeted there by the Army. They
practised maneuvers on Touch Muir and used the field between the Mill
and North End for drilling. Many were killed at the Dardanelles. After
the War a carpet-weaving firm occupied the premises; like other previous
ventures this came to little, and the Mill eventually came into the
ownership of the government who today under the auspices of the Scottish
Home and Health Department use it as a storage depot.
Hayford Mill may not be the most beautiful building in our area (though
attention to the unusual brickworks repays effort) but as a legacy of
our industrial past, and as a major influence on the lives of our
Victorian forefathers it retains an unusual impressiveness.
A song, sung by the female workers harks back to the heyday of the Mill,
and is an endearing epitaph on that time:
“The servants think they’re awfu’ braw,
When they get a lilac goon or twa
A nice bit mutch cocked on their croon
But there’s nothing beats a wincey goon!
They’re aye sae neat, and aye sae sweet,
and aye sae trig and bonnie 0’
Ah they could dance fornest the Queen
Cambusbarron bonnie lasses Oh!
Note: the mill has now been converted into homes and images of the
development can be seen on our Local Views Page.