Old Photograph Burnside Mills Tillicoultry Scotland

Old photograph of Burnside Mills in Tillicoultry in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. One of the Hillfoots villages on the A91, which runs from Stirling to St Andrews in Fife. The burn, or small river, which runs off the Ochils and down through the glen into west of the village provided an attractive source of water for the early textile industry in Tillicoultry, being used for the washing and dying of wool. During the early 18th century a cloth known as Tillicoultry Serge was manufactured by weaving worsted with linen. By the time of the industrial revolution the burn was a recognised source of power, with the first mill being established in the 1790s. Many more textile mills were built along the burnside, by the 1830s, steam powered mills were introduced and by 1870 there were 12 mills employing over 2000 people. As the industry expanded, more workers were attracted to the village. The population of the parish, which had stood less than 1000 at the turn of the 19th century, had grown to over 4500 by the early 1850s.





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