I haven’t been back to Paton’s Mill since October 2008, and the past 18 months have not been kind to the place. First, on-site security left, then the metal thieves and neds moved in to trash the place, then (far too late) the council eventually secured the building – it’s now breeze-blocked to second-floor level and there are internal walls as well. It makes entry a lot more entertaining 🙂
Semiconductors were meant to be the saviour of Scottish industry – we were told not to worry too much about the death of heavy industry because the future was in high-tech. Politicians had great fun talking about Silicon Glen, boasting about all the electronics companies who were setting up factories in Scotland, and not mentioning the huge government subsidies offered to these companies.
A fun stroll in the woods, with some friends – big concrete things, little machine things, secret paths and comedy “run away!” moments – what more could you want?
Tod and McGregor claimed to be the “fathers of iron shipbuilding on the Clyde” – in 1835, they launched the Vale of Leven, the first iron vessel actually built on the banks of the Clyde. Tod and McGregor had started out as foremen at Camlachie Foundry, and set out on thier own as marine engineers in 1834. Their first yard was further upriver, then they moved south of the river, before moving to a new, large site at Meadowfield where the River Kelvin joins the Clyde.
This is a wee brickworks in the middle of nowhere near Falkirk. A few nice big ovens, and what was interesting to me was an edge-runner mill…
I know what you’re thinking – you’re thinking when the hell am I going to STFU about Ardeer? Soon, I promise 😉 This was a revisit to walk the last few unexplored paths, go into every building I’ve missed, and hunt down a few loose ends – plus get better pictures of some places for my book project. There were a few bonuses, though…
First up, one of the four gunpowder presses – GP4 is a “Yankee” horizontal hydraulic press, which was apparently preferred by the workers.
Another visit back to the enormous Ardeer site, this time to have a look around the wooded area that contained the gunpowder works. First, though, I passed through the nitroglycerin section – it’s a bizarre landscape of steep hills, tunnels, berms and these corrugated-iron blast walls:
I don’t know much about this – didn’t even know it was a brickworks until I got home and googled it – this was a chance find on the way back from Brymbo…
There has been a steelworks in Brymbo, near Wrexham, for over 200 years. The site is now being redeveloped, but some original areas remain – officially heritage areas, but very little seems to be happening to save them.
Deep in a wooded valley, a loading platform.
