Troqueer Mills, Dumfries

From a painting...

This is my home area - and much of my early life was spent around here. Every Saturday as a small boy I had to walk along the river here with my grandmother to visit the family grave in Troqueer cemetery beyond.

Robert Scott started tweed manufacture in Dumfries at Kingholm. His son, John Scott, set up a second tweed factory at the foot of St Michael's Street. John's brother Walter dissolved his partnership in 1866 and built the mills on the Troqueer side of the river. And these are they.

Walter later took over Kingholm and Nithsdale Mills in 1870. In 1881 James McGeorge emerged as the largest firm in the hosiery trade after his takeover of Robert Scott and Sons. Further expansion took place from 1888 and when Walter Scott and Sons retired from the large St Michael's Mills, McGeorge transferred business to the weaving sheds there. By 1902 the firm had parts of the Nithsdale Mills where 800 workers were employed. In the First World War production changed to the manufacture of khaki and French Army blue cloth. After the war the mills did not recover their old markets and were apparently unwilling or unable to produce cheaper cloth for the rapidly developing multiple tailoring businesses. Troqueer Mill did not reopen after a fire in 1923 and Rosefield Mills were unable to survive the Depression.