Year
1865Duration
1 yearCost
£6000 (£639,000 today)Location
ScotlandProject achievements
Used engineering skill
Designed for the large wind loading that the tower would have to stand against
Area improved
The tall tower carried smoke and ash high up into the atmosphere, improving worker conditions
Economy boosted
It enabled extra boilers to be installed, generating more steam to power more weaving looms
Not just the tallest chimney in Dundee
Cox’s Stack is the tallest surviving example of an industrial chimney in Scotland, standing at 282ft 10in (86.2m).
Its design is unrivalled in its grandeur by any other industrial chimney in the UK, taking inspiration from the stand-alone bell towers found in Northern Italy.
It was built for the Cox Brothers’ Camperdown Works, a jute mill that opened on the Lochee site, on the outskirts of Dundee in 1845.
It grew to eventually become the largest one in the world by 1865.
The stack was built between 1865 and 1866, a later addition to the works.
James Maclaren was the architect of the ornate stack. George A Cox, the youngest of the four brothers, was the civil engineer responsible for ensuring that the enormous chimney stood as statement of the wealth and success they enjoyed.
Did you know …
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Camperdown was the largest jute works in the world and at its height it employed over 5000 people.
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James MacLaren was a prominent architect during the mid-Victorian era. He was instrumental in establishing the Dundee Mode of Measurement in 1898, a set of rules for the measurement of the work of various trades. These rules led to the Scottish National Building Code of 1915.
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During its peak, three quarters of the people employed in the jute industry were women and girls, and Dundee was described as a ‘woman’s town’.
How the chimney was built
Cox’s Stack enormous height gave the boilers enough draught, pulling more air through them and thus increasing heat and efficiency.
It also served to exhaust the smoke and ash high into the atmosphere, where it couldn’t affect people or buildings.
The foundations of the chimney had to be large, not only to support the mass of the towering stack, but to overcome the less-than-ideal ground conditions.
The underlying stratum at the works consists of a firm, slightly clay-like silt over sandstone. The stacks foundation bears down on this strong sandstone strata, ensuring that there was no settlement of the structure.
Wind loading would’ve been a concern to George Cox. Although predominantly square in profile, the stack has an octagonal top, which helps reduce the wind loading. It also increases the draught, improving the air flow through the boilers.
Upon its completion, the stack provided sufficient draught for 39, 8ft-diameter Lancashire boilers. These generated enough steam to drive the horizontal engines and line shafting to work 999 power (weaving) looms onsite at the time.
The Cox Brothers
The jute industry began in Dundee in the late 18th century. It grew to its peak in the mid-19th century, with 150 jute mills within the city, known as ‘Jutetopolis’.
Before jute, course linen was manufactured in Dundee. The skills of this workforce and the availability of whale oil (shipped from India and used to process raw material) were central to Dundee becoming the jute manufacturing capital of the world.
The Cox brothers were born into a family well established in linen production and had been operating in Dundee since the early 17th century. By the early 19th century linen was becoming more expensive to produce due to changes in legislation and war.
The brothers turned to the production of jute as a cheaper and readily available alternative.
James, William, Thomas and George Cox officially founded Cox Brothers in 1845. The firm would continue trading in their name during the decline and ultimate closure of the works in 1981, after 136 years of manufacturing.
Project milestones
Cox Brothers move to the Lochee Site, originally producing linen with the looms driven by waterwheel.
Construction begins on the Camperdown Works.
Construction begins on Cox's Stack
Stack completed.
The stack is added to the Listed Building Register, category A.
Jute production stops on the site and the mill closes.
Parts of the works are sold for demolition.
The Stack Retail Park opens, with Cox’s Stack preserved as a monument to the Camperdown Works.
People who made it happen
- The Cox Brothers, with George A Cox as the civil engineer
- James MacLaren as the architect
More about this project
- Verdant Works Museum
- Dundee as ‘Juteopolis’
- Tall chimney construction (1885)
- Dundee, Methven Street, Camperdown Works, Cox's Stack
- The fall of Juteopolis: How the Dundee jute mills came tumbling down
- Buildings at Risk Register
Banner image credit: Craig Doogan Photography
Profile author: David Jonathan Rankin
