Balevulin, Mull

Research into the history of the area has been ongoing since 1998.

The site was visited several times, recorded and photographs were taken.

The mill was cleared, measured and photographed.

Camus or Cambus Township centred on NM 487 293

The name Camus or Cambus, meaning The Bay, was given to the farm and township situated a short distance N of the Bay of Kilfinichen and to the E of Abhainn Bail’ a’ Mhuillinn. From as early as 1494, ‘Cammys’ and its Mill had been part of the estate owned by MacLaine of Lochbuy, and was often sett with the neighbouring township of ‘Sowconnyll’ (Schiconnell or Achonnaill) a little further up Glen Seilisdeir. Various contracts of tack of these lands exist in the National Archives of Scotland. (Lochbuy Papers GD174) One of the requirements for the tenants was ‘...to Grind all their Grindable Corns in the Miln of saids Lands of Camis and to pay the accustomed Multures therefore and to do Services to the said Miln.’ The Rental of 1775 has The Miln of Cammis, valued at £3.3s, being listed separately from the one pennyland of Cammis and Shiconall. (NAS. GD 174/789) Bail’ a’ Mhuillinn (the farmstead of the Mill) continued to have a separate existence to the present day. During the first part of the 19th century, the names Camus and Balevulin were almost interchangeable. The lands for official rental were still called Camus, but the inhabitants lived at Balevulin.

In the 1840s the tenant of Killiemore (part of the Duke of Argyll’s estate) who also rented the Camus land, turned it over to Sheep and the township of Camus began to lose its identity. In the 1841 Census, there were 33 persons present at Balevulin and Camus is not mentioned .The 1851 census is the last to mention a miller. Although the sheepfold in the area was not on the original Camus land, it would have been used for both Camus and Killiemore.

CAM1. Structures and enclosures

The remains of the Township of Cambus lie to the SW of the B8035 through Glen Seilisdeir, in a field, part of which has been utilised for the Tiroran Telephone Exchange and a bungalow built in 1990. The buildings and enclosures shown on both the 1st and 2nd ed. OS maps of 1881 and 1900 which lay within the bungalow ground have been completely removed. Those which lay along the roadside also appear to have been demolished. The remnants within the Telephone Exchange ground are just visible.

CAM1.1. Structure NM 48719 29304

Very little remains of this building aligned NNW-SSE, which has been robbed out and used as a dump during the last two decades. It appears to be of drystone construction, measuring approx. 6m by 4.2m with one end appearing to be round-cornered. However only 3 sides are now discernable, the remaining turf-covered stone only reaching 0.6m high.

CAM1.2. Structure NM 48717 29293

All that remains of this structure is turf-covered stone footings at the corners. It measures approx. 6.8m by 4.4m and is aligned NE-SW. It is shown on both the 1st and 2nd ed. OS maps of 1881 and 1900 as an unroofed building.

CAM1.3. Structure NM 48746 29292

This structure is shown on both the 1st and 2nd ed OS maps of 1881 and 1900 as an unroofed building. All that remains now are a few large boulders lying NW – SE, on both sides of the fence which encloses the Tiroran telephone exchange. The existing depression in the ground measures some 8.3m by 5m.

CAM1.4. Structure NM 48765 29309

Three sides of this structure remain as turf-covered footings, lying within the grounds of the Tiroran telephone exchange. It measures 7.5m by 5.6m at the SE end, the SW side being truncated and visible as only 3.2m long. The NW end is not visible. It appears on both the 1st and 2nd ed. OS maps of 1881 and 1900 as a three-sided structure, although the missing side is different on each map.

CAM1.5 Enclosure NM 48732 29289

This enclosure, marked on both the 1st and 2nd ed. OS maps of 1881 and 1900, is an artificially levelled area, measuring roughly 20m square. The NE end has been built into the slope and the SW end drops to field level. It is bounded on the SE side by the stream used as a mill lade. A stone-built dyke 0.9m thick is only visible on the NW side as one course of boulders appearing through the turf.

CAM1.6 Enclosure NM 48775 29247

The remains of this enclosure are marked on the 1:25 000 OS Explorer map, but not on any earlier map. It lies on the S side of the stream, and measures 32.4m by 19.1 m and appears to have been levelled. It is bounded by c 0.2m high turf wall footings, with the occasional protruding stones.

CAM1.7 Clearance cairns

6m SE of enclosure 4, at NM 48788 29240, is a pile of stones, now completely turf- covered, which may have been a clearance cairn.

8.5m to the SW of this cairn, at NM 48784 29230, is another similar cairn, this one with more stones visible.

These piles may be related to an unroofed structure depicted on the 1st and 2nd ed. OS maps of 1881 and 1900.

CAM2. Houses, structures, enclosure and field systems.

These lie on the NE side of the B8035 through Glen Seilisdeir. The extensive field system has mostly disappeared under the forestry plantation of the 1950s.

CAM2.1 House, Balevulin NM 48752 29384

The present house called Balevulin is of mortared stone, post-improvement construction, originally consisting of two rooms and a closet on the ground floor and two small rooms in the attic. It has been renovated, altered and extended over the years.

CAM2.2 House, Balevulin Cottage NM 48779 29358

This house was built in 1890, of mortared stone construction, of one and a half storeys under a corrugated iron roof. It had gable ends, with an open fireplace in each. There were two rooms and a closet on the ground floor and a staircase led to two bedrooms in the roof. In 1953 there was a fire caused by a gas cylinder, which resulted in the cottage being burned down. Following this, the debris lay where it had fallen and for over 50 years the shell of the building was used as a dump. It was cleared and the walls were rebuilt in 2008 to prevent its total collapse. It is now used as a Cottage Museum for artefacts from the local area, as part of the Pennyghael in the Past Historical Archive.

CAM2.3 House NM 48798 29339

30m to the SE of Balevulin Cottage are the remains of a pre-improvement house lying just outwith the present grounds of Balevulin. It was partly demolished in 1890 and provided building stone for the construction of the Cottage. The original building measured 12.9m x 4m. Of the SW end, only two very large boulders remain. The NW end was left standing and roofed with corrugated iron to provide a byre measuring 5.8m x 4.2m. The walls survivie to a height of 1.9m. The SW wall of the byre, which has a narrow entrance, has slumped badly and has been buttressed.

CAM2.4 Structure NM 48744 29434

On a small knoll 50m to the NNW of Balevulin, are the turf-covered footings of a structure measuring approx. 6m x 4m. It lies on the SE bank of a small burn. From its SE corner, the remains of a stone dyke follow the line of the burn for several metres before turning NW at NM 48761 29451 and running parallel to the road for some 200m.

Sections of another field dyke, shown on the 1:25 000 OS Explorer map can also be seen to the N of the structure. Most of this dyke can still be followed within the forestry. It is likely that this field system was part of the ‘Baile’ a’ Mhuilinn’, the farm of the mill.

CAM3 Road

Before a road was created in the 1880s round the cliffs at Gribun, the main route from Kilfinichen and Ardmeanach to Dhiseig and Knock was from Balevulin across Mam na Croise. On the 1st ed. OS map of 1881, the start of the road is shown skirting Balevulin and climbing up the steepest section of hillside. This lower stretch has been completely lost in the forestry plantation. The 1:25 000 OS Explorer map shows a stretch of the road, climbing from 200m to 250m, (NM 490 302 to NM 494 311) J.G. Robertson states that: ”Remains of an old road can be traced within the forestry plantation.” [An Archaeological Survey of Glen Seilisdeir, November 2005] The road descended in a NE direction, crossed Abhainn Doire Dhubhaig and continued to Dhiseig.

CAM4.1 Mill lade

A lade was constructed from the stream which travels SW down from a small lochan on the slopes of Maol na Coille Moire and flows into the Abhainn Bail’ a’ Mhuillinn at the Mill. From the point it flows into the field below the road, at NM 48787 29292, it has been artificially straightened and lined with stone. This stone work has mostly disappeared, though it can still be seen in one or two places downstream, where the stream is 0.5m wide between the boulders.

At NM 48615 29204, where the channel was diverted to flow SSW, its way has become blocked, the next stretch of the lade now being dry. The water flows unchecked into the field and has created an area of boggy ground. It has been suggested that this was one of the points where the lade could be manually diverted in times of spate.

The dry lade continues SW as far as NM 48581 29144, where there was possibly a mill pond, now completely covered in gorse bushes and brambles and another route into the river. Some stone work can still be seen at the base of this dry channel. The lade continues to a point where it now meets a wire fence at NM 48613 29105 and turns towards the river. Here the water was guided through a chute, supported by stonework, to fall into the wheel pit of the mill.

CAM4.2 Mill NM 48609 29097

The building is aligned NW-SE and lies on flat ground in the lee of a steep bank bordering a field to the NE. It measures 8.1m by 5.4m, was of dry-stone construction, with an entrance in the SE wall and the wheel slot in the NW wall. Much of the stone has been removed, particularly at the SE end, where only turf-covered mounds show the line of the walls which are 0.6m thick. The NW wall however, which was 0.8m thick, was constructed of huge stones, and more of these remain. It is likely that the building was two storeyed only at this end, following the pattern of the smaller mills in this area.

At the NW end of the mill and descending from the top of the bank are the tumbled remains of two retaining walls, constructed of large boulders, which would have supported the water chute, channelling the water from the lade. An artificial mound has been built up at the top of the bank, 9m from the corner of NW corner of the wall at NM 48611 29108, with walls 0.45m thick, providing a channel 0.7m wide. This channel would have carried the water as far as the NW corner of the mill, where it was tipped over the wheel into the wheel pit and thence into the mill race which leads directly into the river.

From the entrance in the SE end of the mill, a track led in a S easterly direction towards Kilfinichen Bay and the other townships of the area. This track, wide enough for a horse- drawn cart, was revetted where it neared the river bank, with a small stream being crossed by means of a stone culvert. After some 50m the track is now crossed by a new field fence and disappears.