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Summary

Description

John Haldane, 1778 with repairs to earlier kiln; later 19th century additions. 2-storey and attic, rectangular-plan vernacular mill building linked to earlier gabled kiln building (on sloped site) by later 2-storey, 3-bay granary and cartshed; later former wheel house to E. Random whinstone rubble with rough sandstone long and short quoins in places; timber lintels to doors and windows with some whinstone lintels. Pitched and piended roofs.

NE (MILL) ELEVATION: entrance door in ground floor left with small window to right and to left of upper doorframe, small square window (aligned with door) to 1st floor. To right, large lean-to (concealing most of mill fenestration) with door to right and window to left; left return partially concealed. Adjoining to left, remains of high lean-to building with lower lean-to adjoining at right angles. Later single storey former wheel building to SE with irregular fenestration and piended corrugated metal roof.

NW (GRANARY AND CART SHED) ELEVATION: to right, single storey building (abutting ground floor of slightly advanced canted-end kiln building) with front-facing entrance door and window to left return; upper storey of kiln with small square window to centre. To centre, later 2-storey cart shed and byre: pair of segmental-headed cart arches to ground floor (with much later 2-leaf rectangular boarded gates covering them); to 1st floor, timber boarded door aligned with central pier of arches, small window flanking. To left, advanced gable-end of mill with chamfered angle to right of blind ground floor; window to right at 1st floor with central window to gablehead, blind canted-end of lean-to adjoining to left.

SW (KILN) ELEVATION: inset into hillside, only upper level visible to right where entrance door with catslide roof rises above eaves, 1?-storey blind centre, 2-storey canted-end to left with small square window set high under eaves.

SE (HILLSIDE) ELEVATION: irregular U-plan elevation mostly blind, advanced blind gabled-end of kiln to left, right return partially concealed by materials; small door to right of central (cartshed) range; to right, advanced blind gabled-end of mill building and remains of lower lean-to at cut out ground floor level, door to right in left return.

Later 4 and 6-pane glazing in timber frames to mill and cartshed; original glazing missing from kiln building. Boarded timber doors to all doorways. Pitched and piended slate roof with lead ridging, flashing and valleys; some later lead roll ridging to kiln building. Painted cast-iron rainwater goods to mill and cartshed; kiln without rainwater goods relying on overhanging eaves instead.

INTERIOR: plain stone interior to mill building (in use as a woodworking workshop) with early room layout and plain stone walls with boarded timber doors. Similar plain stone interiors with timber dressings to other buildings in complex. No original machinery survives.

Statement of Special Interest

Part of a B-Group with Traquair Mill Farmhouse and Outbuildings. One of the earliest recorded owners of a mill on this site was Thomas Halliwell in 1292. A mill, linked with Traquair House was recorded on the Blaeu map of 1654 but it was later rebuilt. The mill was linked with Traquair House but appears to have been tenanted. Legend recalls how a warlock was burned to death near the mill site in 1777 and "the brown rat overran Scotland from there about". John Haldane rebuilt the main mill in 1778. This is the building at the north of the site now in use as a woodworking workshop. He was also responsible for repairing an earlier kiln to the south of the mill; it is inset into the hill side and appears 2-storey at road level but single storey near the top of the hill. The byre and cartshed linking them together was added in the later 19th century, along with a small building to the east of the site, which housed the machinery for the now missing water wheel. The mill lade was channelled from the Quair Water by a sluice aligned with Bush Aboon Traquair (sited to SW of site). The lade ran toward the cottages and mill house and headed NW into a now extinct mill pond (sited on the grassed area high above the mill). The lade then dropped down to power the water wheel before entering the Fingland Burn to the SE of the bridge. It then rejoined the Quair Water. Until the mid-19th century, the mill was in use as a corn mill, by the beginning of the 20th century it was used as a sawmill. Traquair Mill also had a regular visitor in the form of the painter James Eckford Lauder RSA (1811-1869). He did many painting in the surrounding area (see REFERENCES) and one of his pastoral scenes is the interior of the mill with a visitor talking to the miller (whilst his wife prepares refreshments). The mill is still in use as a woodworking workshop and listed as a good example of a vernacular mill complex.

References

Bibliography

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