Knockando Woolmill has been at the heart of the community since at least 1784 when the Grant family was mentioned in the parish records. It was originally described as a Waulkmill. Waulking is the process of ‘fulling’ the cloth.
The ladies would often sing while they ‘waulked’ the cloth.
It was a rather tedious process.
The Cally Hay family were tailors and would have used the Woolmill tweed for various garments, especially men’s clothing. One of the Hay sons married a daughter of Simon Fraser who operated the Woolmill in the mid 19th century. As you will read below, there is also another family connection.
The original mill is the red roofed building behind. The building on the left houses the more modern looms and warping/beaming machinery.
Duncan Stewart came home wounded from WW1 and could not resume the farm work he had done previously. He was employed by his aunt and uncle at the Woolmill. He and Winnie Smith were married at Cally Cottage in 1930. (See their wedding picture on the History page). Winnie was the great-grand-daughter of the original William Hay, ‘Old Cally’, and Simon Fraser who operated the Mill in the mid 19th century.
Duncan took over the running of the Woolmill, with his Aunt Emma, when his uncle died in 1938. Winnie joined him at the mill when Aunt Emma broke her leg in 1964 and could not continue looking after the shop and finishing the blankets. As well as doing all the chores Emma had done previously, Winnie looked after Emma until she died at 100 in 1971.
Duncan and Winnie operated the Woolmill until 1976 when Hugh Jones took it over.
Duncan continued to work the croft until the early 80’s. Duncan died in 1991 and Winnie in 2001.
A Trust was set up in 2000 to rescue the machinery and buildings. In 2004, it was entered into the BBC Restoration programme and won the Scottish heat. It came fourth in the UK final. Hugh continued to operate the Woolmill until 2010 when he handed it over to Knockando Woolmill Trust led by Jana Hutt. They were instrumental in obtaining grants for the refurbishment of all the buildings on the site as well as the Victorian machinery. Hugh was contracted by the Trust to oversee the refurbishment of the machinery.
Knockando Woolmill has now been completely refurbished. It was opened by HRH Prince Charles on 9th October 2012 and is now open to visitors. In addition to the mill with all the refurbished Victorian machinery, there is a visitor centre, a shop and a café.
For opening times see the web site at www.kwc.co.uk