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These ruins are the remains of the long-abandoned Garvald Mills, a charcoal mill which was active in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1845, the ground charcoal made here was being used in foundries.

The ruins are located in an area of soft, damp ground, and they are in poor condition, with trees growing in and around them. They stand not far from the point where the Garvald Burn flows into the River Carron. An old stone footbridge carries a path which led to the mill, and the course of lades that were created for the mill can still be seen.

The first-edition OS map — Link (surveyed in 1861) — shows the bridge, the mill buildings and its two lades, and, for each lade, the weir that had been created on the River Carron just below the lade intake. On that map, the buildings are labelled "char mill", with the Dyewood Mill located just to the north-west, and the farmstead of Garvald directly to the west. The OS Name Books of c.1860 describe Garvald as "a farmsteading, one storey, slated and in good repair. On the same farm are two mills, the one a Dyewood Mill, and the other a Char Mill. The last-named is used for the manufacture of blacking. The whole the property of [Mrs?] Burns, Broad Street, Stirling".

The 1896 map revision — Link — collectively labels the mill buildings "Garvald Mills (charcoal)"; the equivalent 1922 map shows them to be disused.

The New Statistical Account (Volume 8, 1845) provides further details: "The mills on the River Carron, in the parish of Denny, have been already stated to be eleven. The uppermost are Garvald Mills. There are two of them, and both are employed in grinding charcoal for moulders(*), &c. Each mill has a miller at 12s. per week of wages, and a man, horse, and cart, to bring charcoal to the mills, and to carry the ground produce to the moulders. The carters have each 12s. per week" [(*)"moulders": workers using moulds to create metal castings in foundries].

Created: Thu, 29 Apr 2010, Updated: Wed, 2 Feb 2022