Quittlehead Farm And Whin-mill

A small farm steading dwelling house and out-houses each one storey high partly slated and partly thatched in good repair, the property of Francis Farquhasson Esq., Finzean.

Name Book 1869

Whin-mill, Quittlehead, NJ 567 045

The whin-mill, for crushing whins for cattle fodder, was once a common item of farming equipment, especially in the north-east. In this example, the large granite crushing-stone lies on its siode within a kerbed and stone-lined channel. The channel, serving as the crushing area, is surrounded by a circular horse-gang platform some 37ft (11.28m) in diameter overall. The stone itself—an edge-stone slightly conical in shape so as to turn in a circle—is 3ft 9in (1.14m) in diameter on its outer face and rather less on the inner, and 1ft 2in (0.36m) thick. In the centre of the stone there is a circular hole 8 ½ in (216mm) in di9ameter, through which a wooden shaft was passed in the upright stone and wedged into position. The outer end of the shaft was harnessed to a horse; a swivel-coupling at the inner end was affixed to an iron pin at the hub of the mill. A four-legged iron plate and pivot still survive, set into a sunk granite base some 1ft 6in (0.46m) square.

RCAHMS 1986, 18 (Visited 1980)

The whin-mill, for crushing wins for cattle fodder, was once a common item of farming equipment, especially in the north-east. In this example, the large granite crushing stone lies on its side within a kerbed and stone-lined channel. The channel, serving as the crushing area, is surrounded b a circular horse-gang platform some 37 ft (11.28m) in diameter overall. The stone itself-an edge stone slightly conical in shape so as to turn in a circle- is 3 ft 9 in (1.14m) in diameter on its outer face and rather less on the inner, and 1 ft 2 in (0.36m) thick. In the centre of the stone there is a circular hole 8 1/2 in (216mm) in diameter, through which a wooden shaft was passed in the upright stone and wedged into position. The outer end of the shaft was harnessed to a horse; a swivel-coupling at the inner end was affixed to an iron pin at the hub of the mill. A four-legged iron plate and pivot still survive, set into a sunk granite base some 1 ft 6 in (0.46 m) square.

Information from ‘Monuments of Industry: An Illustrated Historical Record’, (1986).

Farmhouse, farmstead and small whin mill situated on the W side of the Brankholm Burn.

The remains of the whin-mill (NJ 56814 04562), consist of a circular platform, kerbed causeway, centre pivot with a stone and granite crushing wheel (Information from Mr and Mrs Booth, Craigievar Castle, 2 October 1973).

The farmstead is depicted as roofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1870, sheet lxxxii), and the Object Name Book of the Ordnance Survey (ONB) describes it thus ' A small farm steading dwelling house and out-houses each one storey high partly slated and partly thatched in good repair, the property of Francis Farquhasson Esq., Finzean' (Name Book 1869). Neither the 1st edition map nor the Name Book note the whin mill nor is it annotated on the subsequent editions of the OS maps.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), January 2008