Forest Mill, Station Road, Selkirk

Forest Mill, Station Road, Selkirk

Forest Mill is a complex of single and multi-storey mill buildings dating from 1838, incorporating a waulk mill of 1807, with further additions throughout the 19th century. The buildings are constructed of whinstone rubble with sandstone ashlar dressings and slate roofs, with 4-pane fixed and casement windows throughout.

High Mill (1838) is the principal building: a 4-storey structure with double attic, almost square in plan, with 5-bay sides and 2-bay gables featuring dummy stacks. A 6th stair bay projects to the south-east with narrower windows, a piended roof and a diminutive octagonal bellcote. An external unenclosed lift cage is fitted to the exterior, and there are 3 tiers of skylights. Internally, timber floors are supported on a single row of stout cast-iron columns carrying simple timber cross-beams. A belt-driven lift remains, along with the original vertical drive shaft and bevel gears throughout, and horizontal line shafting on the upper floors. The attics have double collar beams.

The Former Wheel House and Yarn Store, attributed to A Elliot and dating to circa 1870, is a 2-storey building with a 6-by-6-bay plan and half-piended M-roof. The first floor windows are arched to the north and south elevations, with catslides to the east and west. A first-floor bridge connects to High Mill. Cast-iron octagonal gatepiers and gates stand at the entrance; the railings were replaced post-war. Inside, the wheel pit has been floored over; a stone party wall remains, and timber floors have been supplemented with later steel beams.

A small building to the south-west, bordering the mill pond, incorporates remnants of Hogg's waulk mill of 1807. It features 3 multi-paned windows, a slate piended roof, and originally contained a small island that carried a drive shaft into the mill. A stone boundary wall runs along Station Road, and a cast-iron parapet formed by a cast-iron flat-girder bridge spans the lade.

The Hand-Loom and Pattern Weaving Shop is a 3-storey building with attic, extending 20 bays and linked by a bridge at second-floor level to the main mill. A plaque inscribed "GR and Co 1838" sits between doors serving the weavers and office. The building has a blind gable to the south and a 2-bay gable to the north, with a ground-floor niche housing a drinking fountain. Windows to the ground-floor office and first-floor gable have been enlarged at a later date. A single-storey addition to the west, built in two stages, features a Roman Doric columned aedicule and pediment, with an oculus over lights to a later stair. The interior displays octagonal timber post and beam construction with storage shelves for yarns. Office partitions and etched glass doors dating to circa 1900 remain. A 3-storey reinforced concrete framed extension was added at right angles in 1927, adjacent to the dyehouse.

The Boiler and Engine Houses lie to the north of the mill, consisting of four connected structures. The south horizontal engine house features an oculus in its gable. The central boiler house, 2-storey with steps to a first-floor drying room, has a lean-to asbestos roof and formerly housed 3 Lancashire boilers. The north tall engine house has a cast-iron roof tank and dentil cornice, with an ashlar west extension featuring rusticated quoins and a blocked arched window, designed by J and J Hall in 1910. The lower part has been slapped out. A feed pump and covered timber tank sit above. Originally built as a beam engine house to power the weaving shed, it was altered in 1910 to house a 250 hp compound horizontal engine. The walls are fully tiled with ornate borders.

The Sheds consist of a 23-bay structure with equal-sided double-pitched piended slate roofs, eastlights and conical ventilators. Cast-iron columns carry timber roof trusses. Built between the 1850s and 1880s, the sheds are divided into sections: a 5-bay power loom weaving shed begun in the 1850s (with a blank street wall except for a modern shopfront); a 6-bay section with arched windows to the north, used for warping, darning and wool storage; and the remainder originally serving as wool stores but subdivided with some slapped openings in 1994. A courtyard entered from the south was enlarged in 1995 through demolition of the Mill house, tenter house, finishing, scouring and drying houses, creating access to units in the main shed. A modern shed to the east has been built on the site of the former smithy.