THE first modern woollen manufacturing mill opened in Peebles a year after the coming of the railway to Peebles in 1856.

The old corn mill on the Tweed, formerly run by James Dickson, was rebuilt and renamed Tweedside Mill. 

Within two years it had been taken over by a firm from Hawick. Spinning and weaving machinery was installed and they continued business with varied success until being declared bankrupt in 1875.

Tweedside Mills were then bought and greatly extended and modernised by Walter Thorburn & Brothers. In 1868, the Thorburn brothers had acquired the old Waulk Mill on Eddleston Water and built Damdale Mills.

This firm expanded rapidly in Peebles in the last years of the 19th and the opening of the 20th centuries. 

They also acquired Damcroft Mills in 1917 when there was a huge demand for materials to clothe the allied armies during the First World War.

However they were not without rivals. 

In 1883 David Ballantyne and his sons, whose family had founded the textile mills in Walkerburn, established a new textile business in Peebles opening the March Street Mills in 1884 using electricity for lighting and subsequently to drive machinery for the first time in Peeblesshire.

During the war years, March Street Mills focused almost exclusively on making Barathea and cavalry twill fabrics for Army, Navy and Air Force kit.

In response to rationing, the land behind March Street Mills was turned over to allotments for employees and retired workers.

In 1860 a wholesale Tweed business, Lowe Donald & Co, opened in a warehouse in the centre of Peebles. 

It was founded and run by Walter Thorburn and his son, also Walter. By 1881 it had developed an international market for Tweed and in 1897 ‘a magnificent warehouse’ was opened in Dean Park, Peebles, distributing woollen textiles all over the world.

Over the years this firm has brought an impressive international reputation to Peebles.

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