Ellon, Wateridgemuir

The steading at Wateridgemuir is located 4 km S of Ellon (see DC 48442) on what was the Esslemont Estate. The steading appears to have been completely rebuilt after 1852 (Wolrige-Gordon Papers, Plan of Wateridgemuir Farm, Ellon, MS Acc 040, Box 5, Bundle 5, 1824 (farms) /1852 (farmland), University of Aberdeen, Special Libraries and Archives), the altered form of the buildings and the absence of a mill pond indicating that change took place in the mid 19th century. It is a large E plan farm steading comprising a cart shed and granary on the main NW range with threshing barn and cow sheds forming the three perpendicular ranges. To the NE of the steading survives the remains of a large overshot metal waterwheel (4.5m diameter x 1m wide) in an underground cavern which is fed by a lade from the nearby millpond, evidence of which still survives.

The site is depicted on the Ordnance Survey 1st edition 25-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1867-68, sheet XLVII.7 and XLVII.11) as a roofed ‘E’ plan steading with a mill pond to the N. The steading sits on a level site 35m above OD and was photographed by RCAHMS in advance of conversion to dwellings.

Visited by RCAHMS (MMD), 15 August 2007 and October 2007