Grandholm Works, Aberdeen

Grandholm Works is a substantial flax spinning mill complex constructed between 1793 and 1794, with significant later additions and alterations. The main mill building is a 3-storey, 17-bay structure built of squared granite rubble with pinnings. Following a fire in 1900, the upper two storeys and attic were removed. An adjoining wing, engine house, wheelhouse and associated water systems, turbines and pumps complete the complex.

The long elevations of the mill show windows blocked in alternate pairs. The central bay of the north elevation features arched hoist openings above the original lade. A scar remains where a chimney stack stood, flanked by lavatory towers on the south elevation. The building has a slate roof with skylights.

A 6-stage square tower is located at the east gable, with windows within a large semi-circular headed recess on the east elevation. The upper stage features blocked Diocletian windows facing north. A scar indicates the former location of a beam engine house, which projected from the south elevation. Originally, the building had a top cornice and parapet. A domed, columned belfry pergola, containing bells dated 1803, was removed in 1900.

The interior of the original mill showcases a unique construction of flagstone floors supported by a grid of I-section cast-iron joists and beams, likely installed between 1812 and 1826. This alteration incorporated original cast-iron columns with integral saddles, which may have originally carried timber cross beams (some of which remain at basement level). The bell tower features an early cast-iron grid to support a water tank. The roof is of little architectural interest.

An E wing mill, originally used for heckling processes and later for wool teasing and now the bale opening department, was added at right angles in 1812, and subsequently reduced to a 1-storey, 2-storey structure on the south side. It flanks an arched lade that runs under the west end of the mill before turning left into the wheelhouse.

The wheelhouse, constructed in 1826, has an ashlar base and upper parts of squared rubble with pinnings. Water enters and leaves via wide segmental arched openings. The roof was re-roofed with asbestos around 1930. A low-level bridge of cast-iron girders carries pipes and drives to the south. Inside, Boving and Co double impellor turbines, installed in 1938, replaced horizontal Hercules turbines by John Turnbull & Sons, Glasgow, in 1905. A belt drive connects to a surviving horizontal fire pump dating from 1905. The original water wheel, by Hewes & Wren (via Woodside Works), measuring 25 feet in diameter and 21 feet wide, is now held at the Royal Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh.

External sluices, likely with ironwork dating from 1905, control overflow, built upon the 1826 masonry.

An engine house, a single-storey infill, sits between the mill, wheelhouse and an old dye house. The five-bay south elevation faces the lade overflow, while the east elevation formerly adjoined the dye house. The west elevation features two arched bays of brick with a granite gable, originally housing a 120hp steam engine by Douglas & Grant in 1889 (which was scrapped in 1905).