| Details |
An 18th Century meal mill, altered and rebuilt in 1817. It is a small 2-storey, L-plan, water-powered, piend-roofed, working meal mill with attached kiln and outside overshot wheel and interior in full working order (2009). The two pairs of stones were driven by a 6-spoke wood and iron overshot wheel. The Mill of Benholm is an exceptional and rare survival. While hundreds of water mills across Scotland have fallen out of use or been demolished, the Mill of Benholm has survived in full working order. It is one of very few water-powered meal mills in Scotland still in use in 2009. Site comprises mill dam and lade, former miller's house (café), byre (toilets), barn (workshop) and old grain store (miller's office) all converted but retaining traditional appearance. A dual sluice system at confluence of Castle Burn and Burn of Benholm (to the northwest) diverts water to mill lade and dam. A further sluice at east end of dam flows below roadway to trowse (lade). The kiln was built into a former doorway at the original western outer wall. The attached kiln at Benholm is significantly larger than the archaeological remains of a circular kiln discovered near the dam. The mill was restored in the late 1980s and opened as a visitor centre in 1995, but this closed in 2014.
|
Historic Environment Records (HER)