Building record MAB6767 - KING'S MILLS

Corn and saw mills, depicted on historic OS maps, and which first appear on the Robert Ray's map of 1838 on which it is annotated 'steam mill' and comprises an L-plan and a rectangular building.

Corn and saw mills, depicted on historic OS maps, and which first appear on the Robert Ray's map of 1838 on which it is annotated 'steam mill' and comprises an L-plan and a rectangular building. The mills do not appear on the John Wood map of 1822 so are presumed to have been constructed after that date. The OS 1st edition map shows a group of nine buildings with a timber yard to the east. Further expansion took place in the later 19th century with additional buildings shown on the OS 2nd edition map. By the late 1960s the timber yard had been infilled with buildings, and the main Kings Mill building had been converted to a public house and several structures added in its east side. Other buildings have been demolished or converted, but by the mid 1980s most of the structures built in the 1960s east of the public house had been pulled down. Building recording was carried out by AOC in 2011. The present buildings on the site comprise an L-plan public house to the south with a linear wing to the north now occupied by three terraced houses which still show evidence of the former mill openings. A watching brief was carried out by Alba Archaeology (Highland) Ltd in 2007 over the excavation of six trial pits as part of the Elgin Flood Alleviation Scheme. Evidence of the industrial activities of the area was revealed in trial pits which all contained 20th century building rubble, including stamped bricks, presumably from the levelling of the large mill complex which once occupied the site. The stamped bricks were inscribed with the words ‘DYKEHEAD’, ‘GLENBO—‘ (GLENBOIG?) and ‘—LEDON’ (CALEDONIA?). Glenboig Union Fireclay Co. and the Bonnymuir and Dykehead Works, based in the Central Belt of Scotland, specialised in the production of refractory ceramics, including furnace lining bricks and pipe works, between 1836 and 1965. There was no evidence of the pre 19th century mill encountered during excavations and no other finds or features of archaeological significance were noted.

HERBERT, C, 2007, Elgin FAS Archaeological Attendance:Contaminated L (Bibliographic reference). SAB2732.

watching brief

HERBERT, C., 2007, MFA06-ARCHAEOLOGICAL ATTENDANCE MARCH REPORT, p.24-25 (Bibliographic reference). SAB2735.

interim report

AOC ARCHAEOLOGY, 2011, ELGIN FLOOD ALLEVIATION SCHEME : HISTORIC BUILDING RECORDING REPORT, Bldg recording (Bibliographic reference). SAB3657.

Record last edited

May 30 2024 9:27AM