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Laigh Gryfe Mill Lade

Bridge of Weir, Renfrewshire.

Mill Lade.

Entry to the Lower Lade (Laigh Mill Lade) at NS 3878 6573 from the Bridge of Weir Dam No 4. A 150m long rock-cut lower lade, 3m wide in river bank, with sluices in S wall at NS 3884 6568 and NS 3891 6562. Along the N wall of the lade are three brick arches 2m wide accessing flooded tailrace tunnels from the Mills of Gryfe. [S. Nisbet]

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"The key to the water system was a succession of five dams. The top dam served Burngill cotton mill and leather works... Further down, the second weir powered lint and cotton mills... The next two dams or weirs are at the main fall on the river and served an upper and lower lade system...

The water from each mill discharged directly into the lower lade, which was also fed by its own dam, and then carried on to serve the big cotton mill. Brick tailrace arches can still be seen beside the rubble lade wall. Inside, remote photography again reveals long brick tunnels, leading back under the former mill sites. Further down the rock-cut lower lade are the walls and windows of an eighteenth century grain mill." [Nisbet, S.]

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: The cotton mill now demolished and not shown on the current Ordnance Survey digital maps.

"The [Laigh Gryfe] mill was burnt down in 1898, but a leather works rose from the ashes in 1905. This was built on the footprint of the 1794 cotton mill, from its lower walls. Until recently, two storeys of the original cotton mill survived facing the river. The leather works survived until 2002, when it was demolished." [Nisbet, S.]

See: Burngill Mill Lade [Site 4240]