Millhouse Corn and Meal Mills is a complex of buildings to the south-west of Peckhole Farm (NGR HY 76295 52851), at the heart of which is a windmill and a later engine-driven mill. Both the windmill (LB 44589) and engine-driven mill (LB 46398) are designated Category ‘B’ Listed Buildings.
The site was visited by the ORCA team and local volunteers in September 2024.
The windmill dates from the later eighteenth century and was the last working windmill in Scotland until it went out of use around 1908. It comprised a rubble base topped by a jettied-timber, revolving sail house and four sails (Fig 2).
The windmill was superseded by an engine-powered mill which was built to the west. The engine was provided by the Laird, Mr Traill, and the mill ground grain for meal for use in the production of items such as porridge, oatcakes and animal feed. The mill ceased production in the late 1950s.
The mill building is an impressive structure, being one of the largest structures on North Ronaldsay (Fig 1). This two-storey building retains a large number of original fixtures and fittings, including a corn drying-kiln located at the north-east end of the building, indicated by the presence of a large, timber kiln vent in the roof.
A threshing mill is situated at the south-west end of the building and is recorded on the Buildings at Risk Register as having three bays with much of the internal timber fixtures and fittings remaining. The mill engine is housed in a single storey lean-to structure standing against the north-west wall.
A former Smithy survives as a roofless structure to the southeast of the windmill (Fig 3). Only its southern half and some fragments of its pitched, flagstone roof survive, although a small annexe was built on its west side. It was accessed by an entrance on its east side flanked by two small windows.
A set of bellows still remain in the annexe (Fig 4). The remains of the lum are visible on the north gable and the outline of the forge chimney is visible in the north interior wall (Fig 5).
Two further ruinous buildings are located to the east of the later mill, depicted as roofed buildings on both the First and Second Edition 25-inch Ordnance Survey maps.