Building record MAB37930 - FINZEAN SAWMILL AND TURNING MILL

Finzean sawmill and turning mill, in operation since the 19th Century and still in use today.

Finzean sawmill and turning mill, in operation since the 19th Century and still in use today. The mills comprise a group of single storey wooden buildings with two low breast wood and iron paddle wheels and the site for a third. The sawmill and turning mill were established in the early 19th century to exploit the Glen Ferrick pine woods, and is currently worked by the fourth generation of Duncans, who have worked the mill since 1850. Both mills operate using the water supplied from the Feugh. The sawmill, built in the 1820s and restored in 1999, is on the west side of the site, and is a rectangular plan mill with boarded timber walkway oversailing the entrance to the basement at the east. The sawmill continues to be used today to cut locally grown timber for a variety of uses. When the sawmill was first restored, it supplied locally grown oak timber cut at the mill for the building of the Scottish Parliament. The timber was used for the flooring in the main Chamber around the Presiding Officer's Chair. The turning mill, built in the 1830s, traditionally produced a variety of turned items, including herring barrel bungs and brush heads, but now mainly focuses on small domestic utensils such as spurtles and rolling pins. It comprises a single-storey and attic, rectangular plan mill, complete with double cast-iron frame start and awe wheel set in a granite wall to the south elevation; a square-plan steam operated kiln building (formerly wood fired); a timber lean-to smiddy, with pulleys, belt-driven metal lathes and bellows for the forge still in place (restored in 1999); a single-storey generator house; and various ancillary sheds and structures. The lade, weir and sluice gate have been rebuilt. The lades are of timber and concrete, flowing from west to east off Water of Feugh, and at the weir to the south of mill buildings, the flow is controlled by a sluice gate. The north lade drives the sawmill wheel, while the south lade is divided horizontally into lower and upper lades; the upper lade drives a small central generator wheel, discharging into tail-race of the sawmill wheel; the lower lade discharges into the tail-race of the sawmill and generator wheels to drive the turning mill wheel. There are also two cottages, to the east and west of the mill buildings, and a flat-arched double span pink granite bridge crossing the river at the east end of the site. To the northwest of the turning mill is a former bus garage, a single storey square plan building on stilts to the south and with two 2-leaf doors to the north elevation, and a grey late pyramidal roof. The mills have been owned and operated by Birse Community Trust since 1999. The two mills form a unique complex, along with the Bucket Mill a short distance to the west (NO59SE0008), and are the only mills of their kind to survive in Scotland. Drawings of the workings of the smiddy were made in 2002.

Period Notes
Sawmill built in the 1820s; turning mill built in the 1830s. Partially restored 1980s, with further work carried out in 1999. Listed 16/04/1971.

Author unknown, , PRESS & JOURNAL, 28/11/87 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1416.

Hume, JR, 1977, Industrial Archaeology of Scotland, 92 (Bibliographic reference). SAB730.

May 14 2016 , AAS-GR-16-05-502 - 533, AAS-GR-16-05-502 - 533 (Ground Photograph). SAB35586.

May 14 2016 , AAS-GR-16-05-534 to 573, AAS-GR-16-05-534 to 573 (Ground Photograph). SAB35587.

Sep 1 1981 , JF 16-37, JF 16-37 (Ground Photograph). SAB33709.

Sep 26 2002 , GR/02/CT284-392, GR/02/CT284-392 (Ground Photograph). SAB36969.

Sep 26 2002 , GR-02-G384-392, GR-02-G384-392 (Ground Photograph). SAB36970.

Record last edited

Nov 13 2025 3:19PM