Broadford Works, Maberly Street, Aberdeen

Broadford Works, Maberly Street, Aberdeen

A large textile manufacturing complex comprising a group of granite and brick-clad buildings of iron-framed or reinforced concrete construction, with setted streets between them and slate or flat concrete roofs.

The works were initiated by Fenton Murray and Wood of Leeds in 1808. Subsequent 19th-century additions were probably designed by in-house engineers for John Maberly and Richards and Co. The works were effectively completed by large additions of 1904 to 1914 by Wilsons and Walker.

At the entrance from Maberly Street stands an office and porters' lodge dated 1902. This is a single-storey building with an attic, constructed in granite with a bowed front and modern box dormers.

The centre of the site contains a range of 4 and 5-storey spinning mills. The Old Mill, built in 1808, has 7 bays and features 3 giant order pilasters to the yard. The South Mill, dating to circa 1820, has 8 bays. The New Mill, of circa 1850 to 1860, extends to 14 bays. All three mills have regular iron tie-plates. A 3-bay south gable contains a small square ogee-roofed bellcote over an arched attic window. The long east elevation features arched stair bays. A square chimney stack base marks the north-east angle. The west elevation is less uniform due to the narrow plan of the Old Mill.

The interior of these mills contains iron-framed brick arches supported on 4 rows of cast iron columns, which are cruciform in the Old Mill and cylindrical elsewhere. The New Mill has a single row of columns to one side and a triple row to the other side of the beam engine house. The roofs were rebuilt in 1922 to 1923. A detached engine house to the east has a flat roof and arched windows; the original tandem compound engine was replaced in 1935.

New stair and toilet accommodation were added between 1922 and 1923 in brick-built towers with corner ball finials between each mill.

Beyond the spinning mills, a 1 and 2-storey boiler house and dressing, beaming, winding and warping department are located towards Hutcheon Street.

The New North and South Mills were designed by Wilsons and Walker in 1913 to 1914. These form a large brick-clad spinning mill, symmetrical with 15 bays to either side of a central engine house that rises a further storey with terracotta wreath details. Parapets are raised at each end bay. A balustraded stair and lift tower stands at the south end, with a simpler stair projecting at the north gable. The roof is flat.

The interior contains fireproof brick arches on single rows of iron columns. The millwrightwork was executed by Douglas Fraser of Arbroath. A single-storey mill is divided into 3 sections for batching, breaking and preparing flax and jute, comprising 12 north-lit bays with steel roof trusses.

A tall and wide brick stack rises from a square base with a bell-cast cornice and concrete plug. It may function as either a chimney, hose drying tower, water tank or dust extractor, or possibly a combination of these.

A cylindrical concrete tower, dating to circa 1950 to 1960, includes a viewing tower and may have been used for hose-pipe manufacture. The former hose pipe weaving department, later a blending department of circa 1920, is a 2-storey brick building with 3-bay north-lit roof and a serrated corniced elevation to Hutcheon Street. The interior was not seen.

A triple-gabled granite-built flax warehouse to the south dates to the later 19th century. Access to a steel deck is obtained via an external spiral stair and 3 steel doors. The building has no windows. Stacks to the rear of each gable were used to dry flax, with hoists to the front.

The Hackling Department is an L-plan building of 3 storeys with pilaster and corniced elevations to Maberly Street and the office entrance. A Venetian window marks the second floor. The remainder of the building, extending as far as a 2-bay gable on Ann Street, has a blind ground floor with small first-floor and arched second-floor windows. Built circa 1860, the interior is fireproof with timber roofs. Concrete floors have been inserted in the oldest part. A dressed flax store was added to the north in 1910, with some sections of roof trusses remodelled in steel. The South Weaving shed was rebuilt circa 1980 behind a simple granite elevation to Ann Street.

A 3-storey weaving, cropping and weft winding department with a basement was constructed in 1912 by Wilsons and Walker. It extends 3 by 26 bays with long elevations to Ann Street and an internal glazed brick courtyard. The structure is brick-clad with arched windows and a Hennebique Ferro-concrete frame.

The Sewing Mill, designed by R G Wilson in 1904, is a 5-storey building of 3 by 12 bays with oculi to the gables. It has brick-arched floors on iron columns and steel roof trusses to a pitched slate roof. A single-storey link connects to a 1 and 2-storey calender house of circa 1870 adjoining to the north.

The North Weaving Factory fills the corner of Ann and Hutcheon Streets. The granite-built street elevations are angled with 5-bay east-lit roof lights and slate roofs reclad in sheet metal. The interior was not seen. The building may incorporate parts of Maberly's 1824 power loom factory. The beam engine house was altered in 1908 by Wilsons and Walker.

A brick-built chimney stack, set at an angle to Hutcheon Street, tapers from a square corniced plinth, though the top cornice is missing. It is connected to the boilerhouse via a long flue.