Description

18th and 19th centuries; remodelled 1920 by Duncan Thompson and Son of Craibstone; restored and converted to housing 1993. 2-storey, 2-storey and attic, and 3-storey, 11-bay, rectangular-plan former mill with large pyramidal-roofed kiln. Squared and snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. Voussoired segmental cart arch. Small windows.

S ELEVATION: windows to each floor in regularly-disposed bays with some slight height differences. Cart arch in bay to left of centre at ground, and part-blocked loading door openings at 1st floor of bays 4 and 10.

E ELEVATION: regular fenestration to M-gabled elevation comprising slightly smaller 2-storey and attic, 2-bay gable to left with single window in gablehead; 3-storey, 3-bay gable to right with blind keystoned oculus in gablehead.

N (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: centre bay with tall square-plan kiln with hexagonal vent and revolving (formerly) cap projecting at centre, and further projecting low gabled bay at ground. Lower set-back asymmetrical bays to right incorporating cart arch at left and doors to centre. Symmetrically-fenestrated bays to left of centre, penultimate bay to left with loading door openings at each floor and wallhead gablet.

4-pane and plate glass glazing patterns in timber sash and case effect windows. Grey slates. Ashlar-coped skews. Cast-iron downpipes with decorative rainwater hopper to E.

Statement of Interest

On a prominent site to the north of Cowie Bridge on the Aberdeen road, these monumental mill buildings are a reminder of Stonehaven's strategic importance since the eighteenth century as a sea port situated close to fertile arable lands so important for grain production. A commemorative plaque affixed to the building reads 'Cowie Mill operated as a meal mill from the late 18th century until 1960. It then lay derelict until 1993 when it was restored and converted by Castlehill Housing Association. Opened by George Kynoch MP 18th February 1994'. The central low-breast wheel has been removed, and the lade destroyed. The 1920 refit carried out by Duncan Thompson and Son, (a firm experienced in meal mill work) for Robert Dunbar, was a lengthy task, keeping five mill-wrights busy for fifteen months. Gauldie notes that one of those men was Mr George Davidson who described the improvements made as follows, 'Everything was of the latest, a 12 quarter kiln, with built in hoppers under the colm of the kiln with shaking spouts all round to convey the dried grain to where it was wanted. We had thirteen sets of elevators which did away with a lot of manual work for the miller and his staff. We also installed a new water wheel, fourteen feet diameter, four feet wide. This was a start in aw wheel [start and awe wheel], under shot'.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56647165

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
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  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)