Brigton Mill Survey Report

Historic Documents:

The earliest date discovered for a mill at Brigtoun is in a confirmation of the Barony for Alexandro Strathauchin of 1516 (Register of the Great Seal of Scotland (RGS) 1516-64), which uses the term “cum molendino earundem”. In a charter of 1524 he granted the mill of Brigton with its multures and land belonging to it, to Euphemia Ayton, whom he was about to marry (RGS 1524-291). In RPS (Records of the Parliament of Scotland to 1707) 1672-6-147 the ratification of Patrick Lyon includes among the property list “the lands of Brigtoune, comprehending the lands and others aftirspecified, viz the lands of Brigtoune of Kinnetles, with maner place, yairds, orchairds, dowcats, tofts, croftis, brewlandis and brewseattis, with the corne milne, milnelands, multurs, sequells, outsets, pairts, pendicles and pertinents thereof”.

The OPRs (Old Parish Records) of Kinnettles from 1700 onward have many references to the Milnetown of Bridgetown, such as in 1719 the mention of William Guthrie of the Miln of Bridgetown on the occasion of his daughter Jean’s baptism. In 1787, there is the first mention of the name Douglastown, which is the name to which Bridgetown was changed, though later entries continue to use Bridgetown. The last entry for the mill in the OPRs is on 20 Feb, 1790, when the miller, John Guthrie had a son called Grahame.

According to Alex J Warden (The Linen Trade Ancient & Modern) the mill was still grinding corn in 1787, but around this time was used to test flax spinning equipment acquired from the Darlington firm of John Kendrew and Co. This proved successful and by 1790 a four storey, purpose built spinning mill was being used in Douglastown. Meanwhile, the old corn mill seems to have been abandoned for grain milling, though a sale notice for the Brigton estate in the Caledonian Mercury (18 February,1808), includes mention of a flax and spinning mill, so it may be that the old mill was used for flax preparation prior to the fibre being spun at the new mill.

The Census records for Kinnettles show no miller associated with Brigton mill for 1841 to 1901.

The mill building was used for storage by the Mains of Brigton farm, which is adjacent to the mill. The mill wheel was reputed to have been taken by a scrap merchant during World War 2. The mill was gutted by fire in the 1940s and though later partially rebuilt and re-roofed, most of the upper storey was lost at this time. It is now occasionally used as a garage or store house.

These and other historical documentary references are summarised in an attached table – Brigton Timeline.

Historic Maps:

On Timothy Pont’s Map of Lower Angus and Perthshire East of the Tay (1583-96 No. 26 LowerAngus & Perthshire east of the river Tay) Bridgetou mill is shown, though the map appears to have had the river course altered so that the mill appears to be some way from the river and Bridgetou appears twice on the map.

Timothy Pont, Map of Lower Angus and Perthshire East of the Tay (1583-96). © National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps

Roy’s 1747-55 Military Survey of Scotland, shows the Brigton estate as being much larger than the neighbouring Kinnettles estate and marks “Mills” on a lade, the line of which is very similar today, though the present mill building is nearer the Perth to Forfar road on the map.

William Roy, Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-55. © British Library (licensor SCRAN www.scran.ac.uk)

John Ainslie’s 1794 and 1801 maps of SE Scotland and John Thomson’s map of Southern Angus (1832) do not name a mill on the estate of Brigton; though there are buildings shown which may be the present structure.

John Ainslie, Map of the County of Forfar or Shire of Angus (1794,1801). © National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps

John Thomson, Northern Part of Angus Shire, Southern Part (1832). © National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps

The 1st edition 6-inch map of the Ordnance Survey shows the overall layout of the lade, mill and mill race.

1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 6-inch map (Forfarshire, surveyed 1860, published 1865, sheet xxxviii)

On the 1st edition 25-inch OS map the mill building is shown as in two sections and though there is no evidence of what the smaller part (to the E) was used for it is tempting to wonder if it was an attached drying kiln.

1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25‐inch map ( Forfar Sheet, published 1865 XXXVIII.14 (Kinnettles)) © National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps

The inlet to the lade from the Kerbet weir is shown in this further detail from the 25 inch to the mile sheet. It also shows the track to the ford across the river, the bridge over the lade still exists.

1st edition of the Ordnance Survey 25‐inch map ( Forfar Sheet published 1865 XXXVIII.14 (Kinnettles)) © National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps

The OS Object Name Book for the first edition survey (1860) does not mention the old corn mill as a separate structure or under Brigton Farm, though it does include the Old (Flax crossed out) Spinning mill, which is described as a tolerably large building 4 storeys high which had been appropriated as a spinning mill till within this last 10 years or so. This somewhat conflicts with the local understanding of which mill is which and it is the old spinning mill to the north of the Douglastown village on the map which was 4 storeys high according to Alex Warden’s book. The surveyor’s informants included a Mr. Guthrie of Brigton Farm, who may have been a son of the William Guthrie who was the last miller.

Aerial Photography:

The 1946 RAF Aerial survey B0049-6340 shows the mill building in an unroofed state, except for the section to the NE, which corresponds with the separate section marked on the first edition OS map (25 inch to the mile). This suggests that the fire had occurred prior to this aerial survey (25 June 1946).

RCAHMS RAF vertical aerial photograph 1946 B0049_6340 (N at top)

Field Reconnaissance: the building

The Mill building consists of stone built walls up to about half of the first floor. It is roofed with modern timber supports and corrugated iron sheets. Most of the windows and doors of the original building have been blocked, either by stonework or by wooden shutters. One window’s timber lintel shows massive charring internally. One of the blocked windows closest to the lade on the SE facing façade has a stone lintel with the date 1762 inscribed on it. Since this date does not coincide with any mill related records discovered, it was suggested that this may have been placed there during the repair after the fire in the 1940s, however, it is not beyond possibility that this was originally above a door and may represent the date the mill was built.

The floor is earth and concrete over fallen rubble and there are some flagstones in places. This is not the original floor level and it seems that it may have been laid over the rubble of the upper storey(s), as there is no evidence on the interior wheel wall of the entry of the wheel axle. There is no sign of an interior wall associated with the separate unit at the NE end of the building seen on the first edition OS maps and 1946 aerial photograph. There is, however, a rather boggy area outside this end of the building and it seems likely that this has been used for a septic tank for the farmhouse or the outlet thereof. It is unclear whether this is the site of the NE building section, but it is more likely that the roofed section on the aerial photograph was an integral part of the present building plan.

Field Reconnaissance: the watercourses

The Brigton weir, adjacent to mansion house was rebuilt in the late 1970s and now incorporates a fish pass. The lade originally led off from the NE corner of the weir and through an elaborate sluice built of large dressed sandstone blocks and wood. The intake channel is now blocked by an earth dam. There appears to have been a platform on the lade side of the sluice gate, supported on three timber joists, which slotted into purpose-made slots in the stonework. The sluice gate was operated by means of a large screw gear. The lade was crossed just after the sluice gate by a track to a ford at the base of the weir and this passed over the lade by a low stone bridge with railings, which is still present in a ruinous state.

The lade is still largely recognisable, but has collapsed in places. There is one further bridge over it to give access to the riverside fields. Thereafter, it widened out to allow some water ponding and immediately after this enters a narrower stone-lined section, with a sluice just before the wheel pit. This allows the voiding of water, down a fairly steep bank to a boggy area which drains into the mill race, thereby creating a high ‘spur’ on the opposite side of the lade from the mill wheel wall. There is a stone ‘bridge’ spanning the distal end of the wheel pit, which might have been used for water-wheel maintenance and would have been accessed from the ‘spur’.

The wheel is not present, though a rotted wooden cylinder enters the wheel wall below the present ground floor level of the mill and was apparently held at the opposite side of the wheel pit in a stone journal. This may be the original wheel axle. There does not seem to have been a cover for the wheel, judging by absence of building marks on the wheel wall. The wheel pit is deep and has a curved ‘apron stone’ at its beginning, which suggests a breast fed water delivery to the wheel. The discharge from the wheel pit drops down about 2 metres into a stream which then goes under the Douglastown road and under the Bridge House (originally the Inn) and thereafter into the Kerbet just downstream from the road bridge. The cellars of the Bridge House flood when a lot of water comes down the lade (generally due to field run-off, rather than water coming from the river end).