Boiler House And Chimney, Caerlee Mills, Damside, Innerleithen

Caerlee Mills, located at Damside in Innerleithen, is a significant industrial building dating from 1788, with additions and alterations made around 1840, as well as changes in the later 19th century and early 20th century. The main structure is a four-storey and attic, eight-bay original mill range, which features a two-bay early 19th century section with a piended roof to the east and a wing to the north, forming a T-plan. There is also a mid-19th century three-storey, six-bay block extending to the west. The exterior is finished in painted render over whinstone rubble, with small, regularly spaced windows that have four-pane metal casements from around 1930. A 20th century entrance block is connected to the main mill by a first-floor walkway. A mill lade runs under the eastern end, housing two turbines.

The boilerhouse and chimney, built between 1858 and 1880, is a pitched roof structure made of whinstone rubble located to the north of the main mill. It features two infilled arches on the west gable and two timber piended roof ridge ventilators. There are also three-bay whinstone rubble binding and seeming sheds to the north, which have been extended in brick and are known as 'White City'. A tall circular brick chimney is positioned at the east gable of the boilerhouse, and there is a small piended-roof whinstone rubble range adjoining an oil tank, possibly used as a tenter house.

The weaving sheds, constructed between 1858 and 1864, consist of a six-bay range with sawtooth gabled, pitched roofs supported by internal cast-iron columns, located to the west of the main mill. These sheds have glazed roofs on the northern pitches, with two additional bays extending to the north from around 1920. There is also a wider steel-framed six-bay extension to the south, built around 1930, with a courtyard behind.

To the southeast, there is a flat-roofed office and entrance block from around 1930, which is linked to the main mill by a walkway and to the weaving sheds at the rear. Various brick and rendered ancillary buildings are scattered around the mill site.

The boundary walls and gatepiers consist of low stepped whinstone walls with sandstone copes at the front of the site, featuring a curved gateway. Delicate tall wrought-iron gates and railings complement the entrance, while tall rubble gate piers are located to the northeast of the site.