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Borrobol
Horizontal Mill (17th Century)
Site Name Borrobol
Classification Horizontal Mill (17th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Ascaig; Askaig; Borrobol Burn
Canmore ID 6671
Site Number NC82NE 41
NGR NC 8665 2629
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/6671
- Council Highland
- Parish Kildonan
- Former Region Highland
- Former District Sutherland
- Former County Sutherland
NC82NE 41 8665 2629
Borrobol Burn drove a horizontal mill which served the township of Ascaig (Askaig: NC 86 24). In 1889 the machine was enclosed in 'a hovel about the size of a pig-sty'.
(Sage 1889; J Mackay 1892)
The footings of the mill were pointed out by Mr Kennedy, keeper at NC 8665 2629 alongside Borrobol Burn. The building is used as a rubbish dump, and there is no trace of the mill working parts.
Visited by OS 2 February 1976.
Field Visit (17 April 1991)
This mill is situated on the S side of a bend in the Borrobol Burn. It comprises two subrectangular structures end-on to one another, that is from SW to NE; a water-collection pool and the mill-building, 7.5m apart, connected by a bank, which supports the mill-race. Both structures had been partially filled with rubbish. The water-collection pool, which appears to have been excavated into the side of the river-bank, measures 21m from NE to SW by 4.3m transversely within a battered wall, standing at least 0.8m in height and 3.5m in thickness towards its base. The mill-building measures 9.1m from NE to SW by 4.9m within rubble-faced, earth-cored walls, standing to 1m in height and 3m in thickness with an entrance in its SW end. There is the lintel of a sluice in its SW end, where the mill-race meets the end of the building. An overflow channel leads off from the E corner of the water-collection pool.
(KILD91 462)
There is a reference to a mill at Borrobol in a wadset of 1614 of John, Earl of Sutherland (Nat Lib Scot Sutherland MSS Dep 313/306).
Visited by RCAHMS (PJD) 17 April 1991.
