The Last Mill on the Eden: Guardbridge Paper Mill, Fife

Abstract

The recording of Guardbridge Paper Mill was a joint field recording initiative between the Royal Commissions on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and of Wales (RCAHMS and RCAHMW), to coincide with the centenary year of both organisations. Its aim was to foster an exchange of approaches to, and techniques of, site recording, in particular industrial process recording, and to explore the practicality of making a worthwhile record of operations of a large, complex working site within limited field time.The paper mill at Guardbridge was chosen for recording as it fulfilled several criteria: the works was considered to be of historical importance as it had been in existence on the same site since the 1870s; there were many and varied buildings and structures illustrating the continuous development of the site; it was easily accessible and relatively compact and it was still active manufacturing its original product. The site was unique, and it was decided that a record should be made on those grounds alone, yet typical in that standard items of plant were used here as elsewhere. The machinery in use spanned a wide date-range and, although everyone is familiar with the finished product and the process is broadly understood in general, it is a much more complex process than at first perceived and thus worth recording from an archaeological perspective so that others may use the results to identify features at similar types of site.As is so often the case with industrial sites, the buildings are generally of secondary importance to the processes carried on within and this should be reflected in the type of recording undertaken. In particular, full advantage should be taken of any opportunity to record while operations are still active. The RCAHMS has carried out surveys at large sites such as at the ICI Nobel's Explosives Factory, Ardeer, Ayrshire; the Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange; Nairn's Linoleum Works, Kirkcaldy; and at Lochaline Silica Mine, Morvern, Argyll, with varying emphasis on process recording dependent on the time available for survey. The RCAHMW has made records of live industrial processes at several sites in Wales, for example, Taff Merthyr Colliery, Merthyr Tydfil; Cooke's Explosives Works, Penrhyndeudraeth, Gwynedd; Esgairmwyn Lead Re-processing Works, Ceredigion; Gywnfynydd Gold Mine, Gwynedd; Alwen Water Treatment Works, Conwy; and a partial record at Cwm Coking Works, Rhondda Cynon Taff. It was considered an appropriate time to share these experiences and techniques in the field.Terms in bold are explained in the glossary; numbers refer to structures and areas shown in Figure 7.