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Croft, depicted on historic mapping, comprising a croft house, steading, workshop, outbuilding, with a later cottage added in 1902 (NJ61SE0080). The pump and L-plan outbuilding south of the croft house are no longer shown on the current edition OS map. The earlier croft buildings are stone (granite) built with slated roofs. The croft house has dormer windows, and a timber porch on the north elevation. A Level 1 Standing Building Survey was carried out in October 2022 by Murray Archaeological Services prior to proposed alterations to the croft house and redevelopment. The buildings at Millbank are generally in poor repair and retain few original features. They are an example of an Estate owned small croft where the main source of income was a carpentry business, which can be documented for over 100 years. For most of this time, Millbank was part of the Cluny estate, after Col. John Gordon, who owned Cluny from 1818 to 1858, bought property in Midmar. The earliest reference to the croft names William Fraser, a joiner, whose business was sufficiently large that he was advertising for a saw-miller and two carpenters in 1853. He appears to have retired in 1859 and was succeeded by Walter Paterson, also a carpenter, until circa 1880/85. In 1885, the first of the Shepherd family, Alexander Shepherd continued the carpentry business at Millbank. He was succeeded in turn by his son, Robert R. Shepherd, and then his grandson Hugh, all continuing the carpentry business. Robert R. Shepherd built the timber cottage Millbank Cottage in 1902, and the byre and workshop also appear to have been built between 1865 and 1899, replacing earlier timber buildings shown on the 1st edition map.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)