View of Tormiston Mill from the South West. Digital image of C 66976 CN.

Description View of Tormiston Mill from the South West. Digital image of C 66976 CN.

Date 25/5/1996

Catalogue Number SC 749605

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of C 66976 CN

Scope and Content Tormiston Mill, Stenness, Orkney Islands, from south-west Tormiston Mill was built between 1884 and 1885. It was in use until 1965, and is now a restaurant, craft shop and visitor centre for the nearby Maes Howe burial mound. The mill machinery, overshot waterwheel and lade carried on a fine stone-built aqueduct have all been restored and can be viewed by visitors. This shows the three-storeyed, rubble-built mill with its drying kiln on the left (identified by its two ventilators on the roof). The overshot waterwheel (water hits the wheel at the top) is situated just out of sight on the right, and measures 1.22m wide and 4.27m in diameter, turning two pairs of stones within the mill. Oats and other grains need to be dried before they are ground, as excess moisture in the grains produces a sticky paste which in extreme cases must be cleaned from the millstones by hand. Most mills included a kiln with ventilators on the roof, where grain would be spread on a perforated floor above a furnace to be dried. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/749605

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap