On the east of the street we have the Calender Works which would have been filled with machinery driven by steam power.
Calendering was the process of putting fabric through hot and cold rollers to finish off the goods. Lapping, another trade less talked about now, was the folding and preparation of goods for shipping. James and William Morris owned the Calender Works and were listed in the 1835 Trade Directory as lappers at number 20, estimated to be next door.
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
By the 1893 the map shows this building is a laundry. In 1897, a local newspaper reported a fire in a coachworks on Bruce Street and stated it didn’t damage the laundry next door. Adapting these buildings from calender and lapping work to a laundry and coach building is an example of the flexibility and ingenuity of the entrepreneurs in the town. Using similar skills and machinery, but for different purposes, to counteract the reduction in weaving exports which had started to shrink the industry.
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
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