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Milton House Estate, Old Mill House
Cotton Mill (Post Medieval)
Site Name Milton House Estate, Old Mill House
Classification Cotton Mill (Post Medieval)
Canmore ID 354978
Site Number NS47SW 206
NGR NS 4259 7479
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/354978
- Council West Dunbartonshire
- Parish Old Kilpatrick (Dumbarton)
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Dumbarton
- Former County Dunbartonshire
Desk Based Assessment (22 October 2015 - 28 October 2015)
The age of the Old Mill House is not recorded, but the name ’Millton’ is first noted with the production of William Roy’s Military map of Scotland c.1750, suggesting a long history of milling on the site.
The building today known as 'The Old Mill House' is shown on the 25-inch 1st edition Ordnance Survey (Dumbartonshire Sheet XXII.7) surveyed in 1860 and is depicted as roofed. The area immediately north of 'The Old Mill House' is annotated as ‘Cotton Mill’, although also marked as a ‘ruin’. The mill workings in the area are likely to have been fed from a large triangular mill pond to the north of the 'Old Mill House'. This would have been routed via a lade, or a defined channel southwards, through the mill workings, to eventually re-join the burn. The route of this lade may have crossed the development area.
Information from Ross Cameron (Archas Cultural Heritage Ltd) November 2015. OASIS ID: archascu1-230312
Watching Brief (22 October 2015 - 28 October 2015)
ARCHAS Cultural Heritage Ltd were commissioned by BabyHydro to undertake an archaeological watching brief during all ground breaking works associated with the installation of a domestic hydro scheme with ancillary generator housing and underground pipework at the Old Mill house in Milton Brae near Dumbarton. When complete the scheme will produce around 3.6kW of renewable energy per year, enough for all the property's energy needs. The watching brief followed the placement of a planning condition upon the proposed development by West Dunbartonshire Council as advised by the West of Scotland Archaeology Service. The project involved the excavation of a narrow pipe trench with a final depth of 2.5m. This trench revealed the route of the pipeline to cut across an area of high bedrock and deep made ground. Two walls were revealed during the excavation, although safety concerns made accurate recording of these features problematic. It is thought the walls relate to earlier mill structures on the site, almost certainly post-medieval in date. No artefacts were recovered which are thought to pre-date the 18th century. With the excavations completed under direct archaeological supervision, ARCHAS Cultural Heritage recommend the archaeological condition be discharged.
Information from Ross Cameron (Archas Cultural Heritage Ltd) November 2015. OASIS ID: archascu1-230312
