Jack Hoxley identified the need to record mill activity past and present within Clydesdale, and together with Ken Fawell has spent the last two years searching for mill sites on the vast river and burn network of Clydesdale.
Mills of several different types have been located and it was decided that in order to narrow the field farm threshing mills would not be included. Types of mill identified to date include:
It is known that we have examples of sites where water power has been used since mediaeval times (~1300) with both horizontal water wheels on earlier sites and vertical wheels on later sites with grain milling continuing until the 1950s on a few sites.
The end product of all this work will be to produce a concise record of milling activity in Clydesdale before even more mills disappear into obscurity either by neglect, development of the sites for other uses or by pure vandalism.
The survey of the mills of Clydesdale has restarted after the Christmas and New Year Holidays. Ken and I have already visited some very interesting and varied sites. Four of them not previously known to us. The first of these was Dunsyre Mill. Although this is right beside the road and we had driven past it a couple of times, we did not know of it until I was shown a photograph taken about 1865 showing the mill, complete with the millwheel and the tail lade. The mill has now almost completely disappeared except for a few stones. The lade can be traced, from a possible dam a short distance away, leading to the top of the wheel, the tail lade continued under the road where the outlet can still be seen before it returns to the burn. No historical research has yet been carried out.
Ken had been told about a sawmill at Garvald which we didn't know about. Although we were not going to include sawmills in the survey we decided to check it as sometimes mills change their use over the years. This mill, known as Medwynbank, is a bit dilapidated but still in use as a joiner's workshop run now by electricity. The overshot waterwheel is still in position and so is the mechanism for controlling the water to it. The first part of the lade is in quite good condition and can be traced round the contour of the hill for some distance. It then becomes less distinct but can still be traced back to the burn where the position of the dam is indicated by several large boulders placed across the burn. There are several humps and bumps in this area along with two other possible dam sites. Back at the mill we investigated the ground floor, which is just a junk room, and saw several items that indicated that it may have been a grain mill in earlier times. By this time the owners had left so we decided to return the following week. On our second visit we again checked the ground floor and were even more convinced that this had been a grain mill. We then discovered a tea chest containing business records showing that it was a joiner's and millwright's workshop. The items that had indicated a grain mill were probably there for repair or made for another mill. We talked to the owner before leaving and were told that her Grandfather had built the sawmill in 1824. We left there a little bit disappointed, but it had been an interesting mill to study.
We also checked out two other places that we had been told about. Two dams that had been fed from burns on either side of Blackmount. The first we looked at was at Dolphinton, about a hundred yards from the road. A dam has been built across the burn and there is a short lade or overflow from the dam returning to the burn a few yards downstream. We are not sure about this site, it could have been a horizontal mill built across the burn or perhaps something to do with sheep washing or dipping. Historical research may help here as well.
The other dam on Blackmount is near Walston. It looks as though a bridge over a former road has been utilized as a dam. The lade can be traced to the nearby farm where it has been used for a thrashing mill and also to supply water for the steading.
We also returned to Mashock Mill near Braidwood, which we visited last year, the owner said that he had found the millstone quarry mentioned in the deeds of the property. We had a look at this and raked around for fragments of millstone. None were found and we will have to get the suitability of the rock checked. On the way home we stopped at Carluke to look at the Low Mill. This is now in a terrible state. The building is unrecognizable as a mill and the whole area is covered with litter. Photographs of this mill do exist and there is probably quite a history to be researched.
As you can see we are kept very busy checking all these sites. We have been very lucky with the weather during this project and it is always a good day out. However we do need help with the historical research side of the project. If you have some spare time and fancy delving into the records please let us know we will put you on the right track.