Waterside

In former times, Waterside was characterised by its neat and tidy weavers' cottages on the north bank of the Luggie river, and its picturesque mills on the south bank. In between lay a well-built mill dam. Many of the former weavers' cottages survive but the mills have long since been demolished. The mill dam has collapsed into a scattering of stones on the river bed. The upper of the two mills, built in 1779 as a lint mill for the processing of flax for the local linen industry, was situated beside the dam, and was a popular subject for picture postcards. Further downstream was the Earl of Wigton's ancient corn mill of Duntiblae, where local people took their grain for grinding. A lade, or…