Rosefield Mills
A once beautiful, now decaying, riverside tweed mill awaits a new life but in 1940 it became the home of the Norwegian Army in Exile.
This remarkable building which has been likened to the Doge’s Palace in Venice was designed in 1886 by, local architect, Alan Crombie for the production of that famous Scottish product, woollen tweed. The company which commissioned the building was Charteries, Spence & Co. Ltd. It faces the River Nith in Dumfries just opposite Dock Park and was one of several tweed mills in the city. The building used to have two very tall chimneys which served the steam engines driving the mill.
Since it closed for tweed production in the 1920s it has had several other uses but the most notable came when Germany invaded and occupied Norway in 1940 and the soldiers, sailors and other patriots who escaped from the country to continue the struggle alongside Britain were allocated the building as the HQ of the Norwegian forces in the UK. Over 1,000 Norwegians were billeted in Rosefield Mills, before a larger barracks complex was built at Carronbridge, which lies to the north of the town. Amongst the earliest arrivals were about 250 members of the Norwegian whaling fleet who were at sea when Germany invaded and refused to return to Norway. To commemorate their arrival in Dumfries a whale-shaped bench was installed in Dock Park, directly opposite the mill building, in 2019.
Since 1945 the old mill has has several uses but the building has continued to decay. In 2019 it was purchased by the Dumfries Historic Buildings Trust but now sits magnificently crumbling whilst awaiting a new life.
Know Before You Go
The building can be viewed either from Dock Park or on the western side of the river along the riverside walk which skirts the property boundary.
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