A historical geography of mills in Scotland: innovation, adaptation, and inertia during Scotland’s Industrial Revolution

Nave Calton, Iara (2026) A historical geography of mills in Scotland: innovation, adaptation, and inertia during Scotland’s Industrial Revolution. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Mills have been an important feature of the Scottish landscape for centuries, beginning with the simple rural grain mill and developing into the iconic looming factories of the Industrial Revolution. The objective of this thesis was to chart the historical geography of mills in Scotland, with a primary focus on water-powered mills during the period of industrialisation from the late-eighteenth century through to the early-twentieth century. To achieve this objective the thesis has three overarching aims. First, to document mill distributions at a national scale. Second, to examine the geography of mills through their physical, social-political, and economic contexts, questioning the development paths of economic activity within given localities. Third, to consider the ways that locational decisions were governed by processes of inertia.

The approach taken was to reconcile macro- and micro-scale research, to map the various types of mill found in Scotland, followed by case studies from the cotton spinning industry, focussing on the Rothesay Cotton Mills, New Lanark Mills, Deanston Mills, Catrine Mills, Ballindalloch Mill, and Spinningdale Mill.

This thesis quantifies and presents the geographical distribution of mills in Scotland based on the First and Second edition Ordnance Survey maps and Historic Environment Scotland’s Canmore database. It then argues that natural endowments of the landscape shaped mill geographies and that water retained importance throughout the Industrial Revolution. It also argues that mill owners were making locational choices grounded in innovative economically and empirically-based decisions that, through adaptations to mill infrastructure and business practices, manifested in a dynamic form of inertia acting upon mill geographies. This thesis contributes to scholarship on industrialisation in Scotland, working with historic maps, and furthers our knowledge of the number, location, and history of industrial heritage assets.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Naylor, Professor Simon and Philo, Professor Christopher
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-85800
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 09 Mar 2026 16:29
• Last Modified: 10 Mar 2026 10:08
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.85800
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/85800