Pilmuir Works, Pilmuir Street, Dunfermline

Pilmuir Works, Pilmuir Street, Dunfermline

Pilmuir Works is an extensive linen damask factory and warehouse complex developed by T Hyslop Ure between 1883 and 1901, incorporating earlier buildings of 1816 and 1847 at the north-west corner of Foundry Street and Cousins Lane. The complex comprises a 28-bay 3-storey Italianate warehouse and office block facing Pilmuir Street, weaving sheds to the west, and a polychromatic octagonal-plan brick industrial chimney to Cousins Lane. The buildings are constructed in coursed sandstone, partially stugged, with ashlar dressings.

WAREHOUSE AND OFFICES, PILMUIR STREET (1888–1901)

The principal facade comprises a 28-bay 3-storey section arranged in a grouped pattern (6-7-2-7-6) with slightly taller projecting 6-bay pavilion blocks to either side and a matching 2-bay section at the centre. The base features a course band above the ground floor and an eaves cornice. Ground floor openings are segmental-headed with keystones; first-floor openings are segmental-headed with bracketed cills. The fenestration is regularly arranged in near-symmetrical composition.

The outer left pavilion block is distinguished by cornices at the base of the second floor and a second-floor cill band. The outer right pavilion block features pediments to second-floor windows, V-jointed quoins at the arrises, a modillion cornice, and a parapet with ball-finialled posts surmounted at the centre by a semicircular pediment inscribed 'Estd 1849'. The 2-bay central section has an obelisk-finialled pedimented parapet with flanking ball-finialled posts.

Two 2-bay carriage entrances are located adjacent to the outer flanking pavilion blocks on the inner side. A further entrance with panelled timber door and segmental-headed fanlight occurs at the fourth bay to the left of the outer right pavilion block.

A 2-storey 18-bay despatch department section adjoins to the right, arranged in grouped bays (2-1-5-2-5-1-2). A slightly projecting block-pedimented double bay at the centre is dated 1888 in its pediment. Similar single-bay block-pedimented sections occur at the third bay from either end, both with former ground-floor entrances. The right portion of this section was altered with a projecting 2-bay extension; a 4-bay adjoining section was rebuilt at an angle to the outer right, both now featuring large inserted late 20th-century entrances. A 2-bay return to Foundry Street adjoins the outer right, and a 6-bay return to the south adjoins the outer left pavilion block.

INTERIOR: A lavish suite of managerial and commercial offices occupies the first floor on either side of a corridor, featuring oak panelling and stained glass screens. Tiled washrooms with majolica dados are present. The main design and showroom to the south (converted to a canteen in 1994) is lined with plaster cornices dividing the ceiling into panels supported by steel beams on cast-iron columns. Complex double scissor-braced timber roof trusses span the spaces. The first floor has been removed from the despatch area to the north. Windows throughout consist of 2-pane timber sash-and-case frames and 5-pane timber frames with top hoppers. The roofs are piended grey slate with corniced ridge stacks to the 3-storey section and a truncated wallhead stack to the north.

SOUTHERN ELEVATION

A 2-storey 13-bay curved storage block adjoins the 6-bay pavilion block of the warehouse and offices on the outer right. A first-floor cill course and eaves cornice run across the facade. Segmental-headed windows light the first floor. An 11-bay section to the right exhibits near-regular fenestration with three oculi set at 4-bay intervals at ground-floor level. Altered or inserted entrances occur at the sixth bay from the right and at the outer left.

INTERIOR: The ground floor opens to the doubling and weaving shed. A first-floor store is carried over it on cast-iron columns. Windows are 5-pane timber frames with top hoppers. The roof is piended grey slate. Some original and early cast-iron rainwater goods remain.

WEAVING SHED, ENGINE HOUSE, AND BOILER HOUSE (COUSINS LANE ELEVATION)

The weaving shed to the outer right comprises three north-lit bays with an entrance dated 1893. Forward-set gatepiers and boundary wall of coursed coped sandstone define the entrance. A pair of coped square-plan gatepiers to the left are each topped with a frieze, cornice, and rounded pyramid coping, with a wrought-iron arch above.

The boiler house adjoins to the left with its south wall rebuilt in brick. The engine house stands to the left with a pair of blocked tall architraved round-arched windows featuring keystones and bracketed cills. A lean-to economiser house adjoins to the right.

A chimney adjacent to the left is dated 1890, constructed in polychromatic red and yellow brick with an octagonal stack (top oversailer removed) mounted on a panelled and corniced square-plan base with ball finials at the angles. A taller beam engine house, of slightly earlier date, stands set back to the left behind a brick wall and contains a pair of tall round-arched windows with keystones. Its roof has been lowered within the walls to accommodate an electric substation. A later brick section to the left obscures remains of the 1847 engine and boiler house; a 1994 laboratory now encompasses an early warp-drying kiln.

WEAVING SHED INTERIOR

The weaving shed was constructed in five stages from north to south: a 3-bay section in 1847, lengthened in 1888 following removal of an internal wall. Two narrower spans are followed by five broader spans. A main drive shaft is carried on a line of paired cast-iron columns. Two further bays fill the angle formed by the south wing circa 1900. All sections feature timber strut roof trusses supported on cast-iron columns. The boiler and newer engine houses have broad-span timber and wrought-iron roofs springing from corbels and cast-iron shoes; the latter incorporates parts of three large castings, bolted together, which probably originally held the engine flywheel for rope drives. The south faces of the weaving shed roof are slated; the north faces are partially glazed. Piended roofs cover the main intact engine house (adjoining the chimney) and the boiler house, each with ventilators to the engine house.

FOUNDRY STREET ELEVATION

The fenestration is irregular, with some openings blocked or altered. An original 1847 weaving shed to the right is incorporated into a slightly later structure to the left. An 1888 extension for the despatch department adjoins to the outer left. A 3-storey original block adjoins the outer right. A 1st floor shallow-arched 'Bridge of Sighs' in reinforced concrete, corbelled, pilastered and corniced, links to St Margaret's Works opposite on Foundry Street; it was added in 1926.

ORIGINAL HAND LOOM FACTORY AND WARP LOFT (CORNER FOUNDRY STREET AND COUSINS LANE)

This 3-storey and attic L-plan block is situated at the corner. Five regularly-fenestrated bays face Cousins Lane; two face Foundry Street (with irregular and altered fenestration to the ground floor). Windows, possibly altered, are blocked to the ground floor of the early 19th-century section. A band course above the ground floor is surmounted by more finely coursed stonework to the upper part, which was probably rebuilt in the mid-19th century. Two tiers of skylights light the roof.

INTERIOR: Four cast-iron columns and a fireplace occupy the first floor. A kiln measuring 3 metres by 4.1 metres sits over the original boiler house and is lined with iron bars from which starched warps were dried. An open warp loft occupies the second floor. Windows are mainly 8-pane fixed timber frames, with 2-pane frames to the north. The roof is piended grey slate.