.GOING...GONE
Huge blazes heralded end of landmark
The historic Paton’s Mill building, which was A- listed, had to be demolished following two major fires in 2010.
It lay derelict for a number of years and attempts to bring in developers were unsuccessful.
Architect firm Stallan-Brand was given the green light by Renfrewshire Council to demolish much of what was left — apart from the old chimney, which still stood proudly until yesterday.
Sections of the historically-important property were destroyed by flames in 2007 and 2009 and again – twice - in summer 2010.
The blaze in May 2010 caused catastrophic structural damage to the main building and it collapsed.
Over the years, many of the important architectural features on the site – which housed mechanics’ machines shops, dye houses, boiler houses, warehouses sheds and a courtyard – were lost.
The building became dilapidated and was attacked by vandals who smashed windows and lit fires.
Paton’s Mill dates from 1782 and was the founding building of the then new town of Johnstone.
Before it closed, the mill had been in use as a textile factory for nearly 220 years, thought to be the longest continuous operation of any manufacturing building throughout Scotland.
The High Street site was originally opened as a cotton-spinning factory, but was later used for lace manufacturing.
Built on the banks of the Black Cart River in 1782 by the Corse and Burns Company, it predates by four years the New Lanark cotton mill in Lanarkshire, which was founded by David Dale, the Stewarton-born industrialist who learned his trade from a weaver in Paisley.
Paton’s took over the mill in 1896 when its first factory in Clark Street was destroyed by fire.
Until recent times, the building was the earliest-surviving cotton mill in Scotland and one of the first in Britain.
The mill also became known as the Bootlace Factory due to its most recent use making laces, but production finally ended in 2004 when Paton’s moved its operation to a nearby business park.