Field Visit

Date 4 March 2013 - 14 March 2013

Event ID 994072

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/994072

ND 37023 73349 (centre of mill) A programme of work, relating to the abandoned John o’Groats Mill on the N coast of Caithness, has been commissioned by the Princes Regeneration Trust in association with the North Highland Initiative. The work undertaken, 4–14 March 2013, included a desk-based assessment and walkover survey of the land within the ownership of the mill, a measured survey of the mill, a general topographic site plan of the area including the mill pond and its associated waterways, a detailed written/photographic survey of the mill, the mill cottages and the abandoned cottages to the NW, as well as the adjacent 17th-century Cromwellian Bridge, an inventory of all the moveable artefacts inside the mill and a geophysical survey on the ground surrounding the mill by Rose Geophysics.

John o’Groats Mill was constructed largely in 1901, a rebuild of a much earlier threshing mill, thought to date from the mid-18th century, probably earlier. It is a long held belief that there has been a mill on or near this site for many hundreds of years, and the area of John o’Groats certainly has a long history dating back to the post-medieval period. However, apart from some unpublished investigations dating to the 1980s, there has been no evidence to suggest that any such mills existed. This work aims to establish the history and phasing of the site and its landscape, and provide information that will allow an informed decision to be made on the preservation and any future use of the building.

The present mill is a large mill for its type, three-storeys in height with a large kiln to the NE side, and a huge overshot waterwheel - set in its own wheel house – powering three large millstones on the first floor. It has been left empty since 2001, and there are 213 artefacts (some in groups) in the mill including tools, equipment, former millstones, winnowing machines, etc, which, although not of great antiquity, form part of the picture of the history and use of the mill in the later stages of its life. The flagstone mill pond to the S is just as interesting, with stone cobbled weirs and water channels.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: The National Trust for Scotland

Diana Sproat, AOC Archaeology Group, 2013

(Source: DES)