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Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Borders

Date 2007

Event ID 589270

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/589270

The mill is a rectangular masonry building with pantile roof containing millwork driven by an undershot waterwheel. The iron wheel of about 11 ft diameter with wooden paddles can, on request, still operate much of

the, probably, early-20th century machinery, including a small Archimedes screw. Adjoining, over a timber

bridge, is an early circular masonry, buttressed, drying kiln with conical pantile roof and rotating ventilator and

wind vane. Substantial elements of the buildings, including some timberwork, date from 1660, or earlier, with extensive renovation in ca.1760. The mill ceased to operate commercially in 1950 when it was given to the National Trust for whom Joseph Rank restored the machinery to working order. The mill is now a significant visitor attraction. Nearby is Houston Mill where Andrew Meikle, inventor of the corn threshing machine, who probably advised on Preston Mill millwork, was the millwright and with whom the young John Rennie spent an invaluable apprenticeship. In 1772 Meikle invented the ‘spring’ sail for windmills using louvred shutters.

Meikle’s finely executed gravestone of 1811 near the parish church door, not far from George Rennie’s, describes him as a ‘Civil Engineer’.

R Paxton and J Shipway 2007

Reproduced from 'Civil Engineering heritage: Scotland - Lowlands and Border' with kind permission of Thomas Telford Publishers.

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