Patons & Baldwins Woollen Mill, Alloa

For over 150 years Kilncraigs woollen mill was a substantial feature within the townscape of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Its tall red brick water tower adorned by the Paton’s Mill sign and the grandiose 1904 offices building more than befitted the centre of a business empire that once stretched across Britain and the world. In 1999, after the mill closed, the ten acres of land situated in the very heart of Alloa became a prime area for development, which Tesco Stores Ltd acquired and applied for planning permission to build a supermarket. However, two of the mill buildings dating to 1904 and the 1930s respectively were category B-Listed and five others, although not listed, dated to the mid-late 18th century. They were considered by the local planning authority, Clackmannanshire Council, to be of sufficient cultural value to require a detailed analytical study.

AOC Archaeology Group was therefore commissioned to undertake a programme of historic building recording of the former woollen mill in advance of the redevelopment. This project involved an architectural and historical study of the complex, which ranged from several stone-built mills of the 19th century to modern single-storey spinning sheds of the 1980s. AOC Archaeology Group applied new innovative techniques in the survey of subterranean elements of the complex. The architectural evolution of the mill buildings was revealed through measured survey and research of the mill archives, which revealed the history of Kilncraigs Mill, its role in the British wool industry and in the social and economic history of Alloa. The result of this work was published in 2004 in Industrial Archaeology Review

AOC Project Officer: Diana Sproat
Client: Tesco Stores Ltd