Linn, North Esk River

'The natural or easier approach to the castle, however, is from the south, up and along the spine of the rock, and, accordingly, at the southern end of the slope, beside the linn, the river has been crossed by a timber bridge. Three great rocks in mid-stream were morticed and rebated for the bridge timbers' [p.107].

'MILL. Beside the timber bridge, at the linn, is a curious structure, only partly artificial, which apparently was the mill to which Father Hay refers. A rocky ledge juts out from the high river bank and has been excavated to form, with a little built masonry, a small chamber. The walls, where these are built, are of rubble 3 ½ feet thick. In the floor a channel or passage is cut to a depth of about 4 feet and of sufficient width to admit a man; where this passes beneath the end wall the rock lintel is arched and the sill is stepped down to the water. Externally, above this exit, there is a wide and deep chase hollowed out of the rock.

Beside this structure are some indefinite foundations which may be those of ‘a fine house by the mill’, which, Father Hay relates, was built by Sir William Sinclair, the builder of the vaults and great turnpike of the castle'. [pp.112]

RCAHMS 1929, visited 8 June 1920.