Photography

The Broadford works in Aberdeen has at times had a chequered past, whilst also enjoying many ‘firsts’ and remarkable attributes in its history spanning over more than two centuries. The mill occupies a massive site of over 32,000 square meters right in the centre of Aberdeen, though this has expanded over the years from the initial buildings.

Scott Brown & Co (of Angus) commissioned the initial fireproof brick and stone mill building in 1808 which would go on to become the oldest iron-framed mill in Scotland and the fourth oldest known to survive in the world. Rather aptly this initial building would later to be known as the ‘Old Mill’ to those at Broadford works as others were added to the site. Scott Brown & Co would operate the company here until 1811 when bankruptcy forced the sale of the mill to Sir John Maberly MP, a man credited with the introduction of Jute (a fiberous plant easily spun into threads) to the UK, and also the gentleman after whom the street the mill is on is named after .

The mill underwent massive overhaul and improvements with Maberly starting with gas lighting being installed in 1814-1815, making it the first gas lit industrial complex in Scotland. This gas lighting installation was put in place by Boulton & Watt, a firm which employed William Murdoch who is widely recognised as the pioneer of the gas lighting process played a massive part in the industrial revolution (alongside the Watt Steam Engine, from the same firm) by allowing factories to remain open into the dark evenings, and eventually escalated him to partner in the firm of Boulton & Watt.

Maberly further expanded the production capabilities of the company with the construction of the South Mill from 1820 to 1830, adding a second fireproof spinning mill to the site. This new building was required in part to house the 200 power-looms installed for linen manufacture making it only the second power loom installation in Scotland, looms which continued to operate uninterrupted until at least 1911.

Sadly money worries would hit the mill again in 1834 when Maberly was also declared bankrupt after years of financial wrangling an misgivings, and the works were taken up by Richard’s & Co who already had several sites in Montrose and Rubislaw working in the manufacture of tarpaulins and fire hoses, and would operate the Broadford Works till its eventual closure.

Richards & Co operated a thriving business from the site, employing over 3,000 people at the peak in the early 20th century, and claiming it the title of the largest single employer in Aberdeen. The company made permanent changes to the Aberdeen skyline with the first of the three tallest structures on the site in 1862-1864 when they built the square chimney at the North West corner. Additional weaving sheds, flax warehouses, joiner workshops, boiler houses and more would all be built in the time of operation and expansion by Richards & Co, including a complete re-roofing of the three main mills in 1922-1923. The second tall structure, the red brick tower, was initially used in the extraction of dust from the brick mill, however later being converted for use in the lining of fire hoses with latex. To aid in this process, it would be later joined by a second tower of concrete construction in 1960.

Richards began also to fail financially, with a deficit of over £5m in their pension scheme in November 2004 they finally went into liquidation. The workers of the mill only found this out when their wages were not paid into their accounts and in the following days the supplies and deliveries to the site started to dry up too. There were stories in the press at the time of ex-workers of the site attempting to make a co-operative bid to buy out and re-open the site, a move which was backed financially by the mill’s suppliers and based on the assertion from the workers that the order books were full. Sadly this never occurred and the site, as with so many derelicts, has gradually decayed and fallen derelict since then, including a significant fire in one of the upper floors on June 20th 2009. Presently there are plans submitted to convert the site to an approximately 400 home ‘urban’ village, but this has not begun yet.

And so, on with the pictures:

The rest of the images from the day can be seen in my urbex gallery.

As always, comments and suggestions welcome :)

~Shepy