Elgin, Wards Road, City Corn Mills
Grain Mill (20th Century)
Site Name Elgin, Wards Road, City Corn Mills
Classification Grain Mill (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) City Corn Mills, Including Malting Kiln
Canmore ID 16594
Site Number NJ26SW 100
NGR NJ 21408 62187
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/16594
- Council Moray
- Parish Elgin
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Moray
- Former County Morayshire
NJ26SW 100 21408 62197
Warehouse [NAT]
OS (GIS) MasterMap, June 2010.
(Location cited as NJ 214 622). Elgin, City Corn Mills, built 1912. A 2-storey and attic rubble building on an L-plan with a fine distillery-type kiln. Now a warehouse.
J R Hume 1977.
2-storey and attic, 6-bay, L-plan former corn mill with pyramidal-roofed pagoda kiln. 20th century additions (not of merit or interest). Tooled sandstone rubble, dressings polished to margins. Long and short quoins.
The original building survives at the core of numerous alterations. Charles Cree Doig (1855-1918) was a civil engineer and architect practising in Elgin. He designed a wide variety of buildings, although his speciality was distilleries. Doig's most widely recognised achievement was the invention of the pagoda-like Doig Ventilator, which he designed, in 1889, to improve the efficiency of the chimneys at Daluaine Distillery Maltings. The ventilators were carefully designed for practical use, but also have a pleasing aesthetic based on the Golden Ratio. It seems very likely that the ventilator at the former Corn Mills in Elgin is a Doig ventilator, making it an important survival. Although it would appear that no distilling took place on this site, the mills were within easy reach of numerous distilleries. The ventilator presents an unsual and distinctive profile in its urban setting. (Historic Scotland)
