New Cumnock, 11 Castle, Crown Hotel, Millstones

The two millstones that stand in front of the Crown Hotel, New Cumnock, were taken from New Cumnock Mill (NS 616133; NS61SW 14), which was gutted in about 1968. They are both runner stones and about 4 ft (1.22m) in diameter; one is of a pair used for grinding oatmeal, the other for shelling oats. There had been three pairs of stones in the mill, the third having been a general-purpose composition stone faced with emery. The last miller, Mr Robertson, had dressed the stones himself. The working surface of the shelling stone is dressed with lands and furrows arranged in nine sectors ('harps' or 'quadrants'), each comprising a master furrow running tangentially to the eye of the stone, and two secondary or slave furrows aligned parallel. The surface of the oatmeal stone is badly worn, but appears to have been dressed in a similar manner.

The outer ring of the oatmeal, or finishing stone is composed of thirteen banded segments of French burr (freshwater quartz from La Ferte-sous-Jouarre). Unlike more conventional French burr-stones studied in other parts of Britain, the inner ring, or hub, is circular, measuring 2 ft (0.61m) in diameter, and is built up, not of more quartz, but of local sandstone, in this case a pinkish-grey-coloured stone apparently quarried near Largs. The centre of the stone has been mortised to receive a three-arm stiff rynd, and the eye is 1 ft 1 in (0.33m) in diameter.

The shelling stone also has an outer ring of French burr, built up with eight less regular segments. It has a four-piece octagonal hub, which varies between 2 ft 4 in (0.71m) and 2 ft 7 in (0.79m) in diameter; this is made of burr-stone like the outer ring and is cut to receive a two-arm rynd, extending across an eye 1 ft 1 in (0.33m) in diameter. Sunk into the top surface of the stone, and spaced equidistantly around the perimeter, are four balance-weights, in (200mm) by 3 in (80mm), for keeping the stone in a true horizontal plane.

The use of a sandstone centre or a similar stone of inferior quality in order to economise in the use of the expensive French burr-stone was apparently a distinctive Scottish practice, though isolated examples have been noted south of the Border.

Information from RCAHMS ‘Monuments of Industry: An Illustrated Historical Record’, (1986). Visited 1970.