Looking out the window at the fog didn’t bode well for the walk up the
Almond but by the time twenty nine Strollers gathered at Cramond the sun was
peeping out and it was a nice day for the walk.
We were split into three groups with guides from the Cramond Heritage
Trust to lead us and tell us the history of the mills on the river. They
started by advising us that before World War II, Edinburgh Corporation had
bought the beach at Cramond and Silverknowes down to the low tide mark in order
to build an airport and that the esplanade as we know it now was meant to be a
road. The outbreak of war stopped these plans as all the resources were diverted to the war
effort and the plans changed after the war.
Moving up the river we heard about the large quarry on the other side
of the river and how the stone was ferried to Edinburgh via Leith as the roads
weren’t good enough. This route ceased when the Dean Bridge was built and the
roads between Queensferry and Edinburgh improved.
There were 4 mills on the east side of the river which had started off milling
wheat but changed to producing iron goods, The ‘raw’ iron was imported from
Sweden and Russia with the Swedish ore being lower quality but cheaper! Between
1752 and 1860, a range of products such as nails and shovels were produced in a
riverside “black country”. You can still see two of the four water driven mills
with their lades connecting the tramway and wharf.
Workers lived in tied cottages beside the lower and upper mills and the
managing director could oversee everything from his house on the hill. The
mills were owned by the Carron Company (1759-1771) and by the Cadell family (1771-1860).
The path we walk on was the route of the old ‘lades’ which carried the
water from the dams to drive the mill wheels. The dams are mostly gone but you
can still see the ruins of some of them in the water.
Some of the mills later changed to paper and glue production but this
didn’t last long. There was a fifth mill on the other side of the river but it
never began work.
We finished off at the old Cramond Brig and the Strollers dispersed for
lunch to the local hostelries.
Our thanks to Ian K for arranging this walk with the Cramond Heritage
Society. It was really interesting to hear the history and stories of the
river.
