Whitfield Tileworks, Linton, Peeblesshire

Whitefield or Whitfield Tileworks, Linton, Peeblesshire aka Macbiehill Tileworks.

Canmore

Below – 15/05/1847 – The Scotsman – Tile prices at Macbiehill Tileworks. William Dargavel, overseer, Macbiehill by Noblehouse.

30/10/1847 – The Scotsman – Desirable farm, lime quarries, colliery, brick and tile works upon the estate of Mackiehill, Peebleshire … The brick and tile works at Whitfield with the field of clay adjacent thereto, will be let on a lease of 5 years from 01/02/1848. The kiln and sheds have been recently erected and are in the best possible order, and there is a house attached to the work. The offers must state a fixed minimum rent or a Lordship in the option of the proprietor … Coal will also be supplied from the Estate Colliery.

Below – 21/12/1850 – The Scotsman – Prices of tiles at the Macbiehill Tileworks – 1851. Two and a half per cent discount allowed on all accounts settled before 26th May 1851. Orders to be addressed to Mr Charles Lawson, Deepsykehead, West Linton.

1856 – 1858 – ScotlandsPlaces – Whitefield – A tileworks on the farm of Whitfield having good sheds for drying and kiln for burning. The tiles are generally used for the purpose of draining, The works are in the possession of the proprietor George Berresford, Magbiehill or Macbiehill or Mackiehill. Tenants? Mr Stoddart, Whitfield and David Moffat, Whitfield

Below – 1856 – Whitefield Tileworks, Whitefield, Linton

Below – 1856 – Cleaves Clay Pits. These are situated just to the SE of the Whitefield Tileworks. ( Note – SBH – I cannot find a separate reference to these clay pits in any research so perhaps they were an extension of the Whitefield Tileworks. I have recorded them here meantime to ensure this information is not missed).

30/04/1881 – Peebleshire Advertiser – West Linton. Population statistics … The census returns of 1881 show a very great decrease in the population of this parish. In 1851, the population of the parish was 1630, of which the village contributes 613. In 1861 the population of the parish was 1534 of which the village contributed 512. In 1871 the population of the parish was 1398, of which 494 were in the village, and in 1881 the population numbers 1114, of which the village gives 435. Thus it will be seen that during the last thirty years the parish has lost nearly one-third of its population. Thus result is due in some measure, no doubt, to the changes in the systems of farming, but as the most decided decrease is visible in the districts of Coalyburn, Whitfield, and Carlops it must be traced to the closing of the coal pits, tileworks, &e., and the generally reduced working of the lime quarries and freestone quarries on the Macbiehill and Newhall estates, or at least those portions of them lying within the parish of West Linton, where the proportionate number of ruinous and uninhabited houses is almost incredible.

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