Knockando Woolmill Trust

BBC Homes & Antiques

We're delighted that BBC Homes & Antiques have featured our efforts as the main news feature in November's issue:

"Much of the machinery is from the 18th century and - although this hasn't hindered Hugh Jones, who has produced tweed here for the past 30 years - it is finally in need of restoration."

> Read the article in full here

If you'd like to help us raise the final £200,000 needed to trigger the restoration process please consider becoming a Friend of Knockando Woolmill.

Becoming a Friend enables you to join the increasing and dedicated group of people from all over the world who are committed to the restoration project so that future generations can enjoy its heritage and keep the traditional art of weaving alive.

Become a Friend of Knockando Woolmill

We have just launched our Friends of Knockando Woolmill scheme.

To date we have secured funding commitments of more than £1.6 million - including £1.3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

But we still have a long way to go!

The funding we have secured is entirely dependent on the Woolmill Trust raising £200,000 by the end of 2008.

To achieve this, we need your donations - and every £1 helps!

Find out how you can become a Friend of Knockando Woolmill >

Knockando Woolmill Open Day

As reported in the Press & Journal:

"People in Moray will have the chance to leave a lasting mark on the UK’s oldest operating district woollen mill.

The Knockando Woolmill at Knockando, Aberlour, is holding an open day tomorrow to officially launch its public appeal to raise £200,000 for restoration works.

Donations are needed to help restore some of the 18th-century building’s equipment, and sponsors could have their names engraved on some of the mill’s traditional features."

Read the article in full >

Our Heritage Lottery Fund award

As reported by the BBC News website:

"A woollen mill on Speyside which has manufactured cloth since 1784 has been given a lifeline through lottery cash.

Knockando Woolmill, which featured in the BBC Two series Restoration, is in danger of collapse and school trips can no longer visit because of the risk.

The mill has been given a grant of £1.3m and development funding of £120,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund."

Read the article in full >

The Woolmill Cottage

Quite rightly, much of the effort to save Knockando Woolmill concentrates on the Mill itself and the fabulous old machinery.

There are, however, other gems on the site, the oldest of which is the Woolmill Cottage.

A simple three-roomed cottage, it was built between 1800 and 1830. It originally had a thatched roof although this has been replaced by corrugated asbestos, and luckily the building is pretty dry.

The last inhabitant, Mrs Smith, died in 1915 and the interior has changed little over the succeeding 90 years. The Belfast sink, striped roller blinds are still in place and the cast-iron range are still in the kitchen along with 14 layers of wallpaper. (Was this early insultation?)

The stone walls of the living room are finished in a tasteful pink distemper and the tasselled fringe still graces the living room mantlepiece.

The six panel doors are curiously refined for such a modest house; an added mystery is that they are only 1 inch thick and all the locks are fitted upside down.

The external finishes of the Cottage have excited the Scottish Lime Centre . The walls are well built of granite field stones coated with a pink lime harling. Perhaps this should be called the Pink Cottage?

The Scottish Lime Centre hope to run a master craftsman course in lime harling this autumn, using the Cottage as the basis for learning. The trick will be to find the same pink aggregate in local burns to colour the harling.

Third Newsletter follows soon

I will shortly be posting our third newsletter on our web site.

We are at a very critical stage in the project.

Watch this space !

Graeme Stewart

Secretary,  Knockando Woolmill Trust.

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to the Knockando Woolmill Trust blog - where we'll keep you up to date with latest news/events here at the Trust. We'll also explore some of the people and places that have all played a part in the Mill's history.

Deep in the Spey Valley, Knockando Woolmill continues an unbroken 200 year old tradition, producing woven fabric on its historic looms. Knockando Woolmill has always been at the heart of the local community. Listed as the 'Wauk Mill' in parish records from 1784, the mill has since maintained its traditions of spinning and weaving through generations of families. It is steeped in local history, and preserves strong relationships with the farms, land and people of the area.