Benholm Mill in Kincardineshire

Kincardineshire

The County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, is a restored and fully working water-powered meal mill

Watermill

A watermill is a structure that uses a water wheel or turbine to drive a mechanical process such as flour, lumber or textile production, or metal shaping .- History :...

. It is sited in ancient woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

 near Johnshaven

Johnshaven

Johnshaven is a coastal village along the North Sea located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is accessed off the A92 coast road that connects Fife and Stonehaven, where it joins the A90 and continues northward to Aberdeen and beyond...

 (13 miles south of Stonehaven

Stonehaven

Stonehaven is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 9,577 in 2001 census.Stonehaven, county town of Kincardineshire, grew around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon" , and expanded inland from the seaside...

), by the farmland

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

s of Sunset Song

Sunset Song

Sunset Song is a 1932 novel by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. It is widely regarded as one of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century...

country - made famous by local author, Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Lewis Grassic Gibbon

Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell , a Scottish writer.-Biography:...

. It featured as Long Rob's Mill in the television serialisation of this novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

.

History

Benholm is now the only surviving traditional water-powered meal mill in HistoricKincardine

Kincardine

Kincardine or Kincardine-on-Forth is a small town located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. The town was given the status of a Burgh of barony in 1663. It was at one time a reasonably prosperous minor port...

, Aberdeenshire. For hundreds of years it and numerous similar mills throughout Scotland were of vital importance to the rural community as the suppliers of the main food item. At its peak it produced oatmeal, bruised oats and hashed oats for an area extending from Montrose

Montrose, Angus

Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...

 in the south to Barras

Barras

Barras may refer to:* Barras, Aberdeenshire, Scotland* Barras, Cumbria, England* Barras, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France* Duas Barras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil* Sete Barras, São Paulo, BrazilIn other fields:...

 and Catterline

Catterline

Catterline is a coastal village on the North Sea in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated about six kilometres south of Stonehaven; nearby to the north are Dunnottar Castle and Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve. Other noted architectural or historic features in the general area include Fetteresso...

 in the north and inland to Laurencekirk

Laurencekirk

Laurencekirk is a small town in the ancient county of Kincardineshire, modern county of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen main road. It is the largest settlement in the Howe o' the Mearns area and houses the local secondary school; Mearns Academy, which was awarded the...

 and Fordoun

Fordoun

Fordoun is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Fothirdun , as it was historically known, was an important area in the Howe of the Mearns...

.

Current status

The mill building was in partial use until 1982 and was gradually restored to its present state from 1986 onwards. Parts of it date back to the 18th century, though there are records of milling at Benholm as early as the 13th. Other buildings on site are of mainly Victorian origin. The whole complex, with mill dam, reed bed, miller's croft and woodland walk, is now a local heritage visitor centre.The mill used to belong to the late John Alexander Scott of Kirkton of benholm.

The Mill of Benholm Trust works with Aberdeenshire Council to provide work experience and training for adults with special needs, in catering, horticulture, furniture restoration, shop and office work.

The main industry in Benholm today is agriculture many of the local farms are still ran by generations of the same families. Typical names include Buchan, Forster, Colqhuan, Scott, Kieth, Alexander, Reid and Mc Cormmack.

Website

http://millofbenholm.org.uk/