Signposted opposite the village telephone box is this small 18th century lint (linen) mill, circular in design and 2 storeys high with a conical roof. The mill wheel would have been centred on the lower right opening and would have appeared semi-submerged in a pit. A wooden channel would have brought the water from the race above over the wheel. The lint mill was used to mechanise the production of linen, produced from flax grown locally. The flax was bruised by rollers and then revolving blades separated the boom from the fibres, though this small mill probably only housed the bruising rollers, with the blades being stationed in another location. The industry died once cheaply imported flax was available and the industrial revolution got into full swing. The lint mill was built by Ewan Cameron of Lawers in the late 1700s.
Picture copyright Steven Brown and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence.
