Old Corn Mill, Lintrathen, Kirriemuir and Dean, Angus

Description

An early 18^th century, L-plan former cornmill with a single storey principal elevation and two and a half storey basement to the rear built on steeply sloping ground. It has a keystone on the sluice by the waterwheel dated 1706 and a pedimented entrance door piece on the west elevation dated 1860. It is set within the small hamlet of Bridgend of Lintrathen to the north of the Clint Law Hill and to the east of the Loch of Lintrathen.

The principal (west) elevation is single storey, symmetrical with a raised central gablet stone entrance doorway and piended slate roof, all set below the road level. The contrasting, tall rear (east) elevation drops down three storeys and a semi basement to the lower ground level. The mill is built in rubble with various sandstone dressings and it has a slate roof with cast-iron rainwater goods. There is a rubble chimney to the south gable and the timber windows have various glazing patterns.

The interior retains the main elements of the mill machinery within the living space. The iron and timber water wheel is in situ within a separate wheelhouse room accessed externally through a door on the north gable. Many of the interior walls are rough plastered onto stone and there are some later 20^th century partitions to form living accommodation.

Historical Background

According to a Courier newspaper article from 2016 there is a keystone on the waterwheel sluice dated 1706. Roy's Map of 1747 records a group of buildings on the site named as 'Kirk of Lintrathen' including an L-plan building in the location of the mill. In 1845 the Statistical Account of Scotland recorded Lintrathen Parish and noted 'the village houses are very ruinous; but it is likely they will soon be rebuilt'. The mill has a date stone of 1860 which suggests the mill was rebuilt around that time.

The mill is shown in its current L-plan footprint on the first edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1861 and marked as the corn mill. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of the same time describes the buildings at 'Bridgend of Linthrathen' as "a farmhouse and offices, also to a Public house; smithy; a corn Mill, a small grocer's shop and 3 dwelling houses" and the map shows the village also included a church, manse, two schools, several cottages, a smithy, a farm steading and around eight dwellings. The village was truncated in the later 19^th century by the construction of a reservoir to the west of the mill.

The mill is thought to have been working up until the earlier 20^th century after which it was unused for several decades. In 1987 planning permission was granted to convert the mill to two dwellings (a small upper floor cottage and a separate house in the lower two floors). In 2002 the two dwellings were combined to create the current house.

Statement of Interest

The former Lintrathen cornmill is an early and rare surviving example of its building type. It retains its simple classical design as well as good level of historic fabric including some early industrial machinery and waterwheel. The immediate setting of the mill as part of a group of structures neighbouring the Lintrathen bridge is largely unaltered since the mid-19^th century and this adds to the significance of the building in listing terms. The building's former use as a mill is still readable in its current form.

Architectural interest

The low sunken principal elevation of the former mill has design interest which is of classical inspiration, as seen in the symmetry of its road facing elevation and the shallow shaped piended roof. In its current form, the contrasting height of the mill's two main elevations continues to demonstrate its original use as a water powered cornmill on a steeply sloping site and its relationship with the river that powered it.

The building retains its L-plan footprint which is shown on earlier 19^th century maps. The L-plan form is standard for a mill building with the small section at the southeast corner likely to have held the kiln. There is futher design interest in the surviving early mill machinery which is known to remain inside the building (2022). The design of the main waterwheel within an internal wheelhouse is relatively rare. Most mills of the period had external waterwheels and this more bespoke wheelhouse in this example suggests a higher design input than contemporary mills.

The mill's low road facing elevation is a similar scale to the neighbouring mill keeper's cottage (unlisted) and both are on steeply sloping ground adjacent to the earlier 19^th century, single arch, stone, road bridge (listed at category C, LB11435). Together these buildings form a group of historic buildings which are prominent in this small rural hamlet. A postcard from the late 19^th or early 20^th century shows this grouping and their immediate setting remains largely unaltered. The wider village setting was altered in the late 19^th century when the construction of the Lintrathen Reservoir to the northwest resulted in the loss of around half the hamlet, including a smiddy, a school and several houses. The former mill within the hamlet grouping is an important survival in this context.

Although there has been later alteration and reuse as a dwelling, the building retains features that are characteristic of an 18^th century mill. The alterations have not adversely affected the historic character of the building. The setting has also been retained largely as it would have appeared in the 19^th century.

Historic interest

Dating to around 1706 the mill is an early surviving example of its building type and still appears largely in its original form to the exterior. It is locally significant as one of the earliest buildings surviving in the hamlet of Kirkton of Lintrathen and immediate area.

Once common across Scotland, water powered mills of the late 18^th and

19^th century are now rare, with many demolished or substantially altered. The former Lintrathen Mill is a relatively rare example because its watermill also survives and is more unusually incorporated within the building when the majority featured external water wheels.

In the 20^th century many redundant mills were converted to residential accommodation usually resulting in the loss of interior detailing and machinery. The mill at Lintrathen is however a rare example of its building type because it retains 18^th and 19^th century fabric including much of the internal mill machinery and mill workings.

Historic mills and their associated infrastructure contribute to our understanding of how people lived in the past and illustrates the social and economic history of rural life in Scotland in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The surviving mill at Lintrathen, while no longer use, continues to show special social historical interest.

The supplementary information in the listed building record was updated in 2023.

External Links

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