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Summary

Description

Milldriggan Mill House is a late-18th century, two-storey, three-bay former mill owner/manager's house. It has a two-storey wing, that is lower in height, attached to the east gable and a single-storey extension with a mono-pitched roof attached to its far eastern end. The property is largely constructed in painted rubble with squared quoins. The ground floor of the east wing is constructed in painted rubble and is painted brick to the first floor. The property is located in the village of Braehead close to the north bank of Maltkiln Burn (historically known as Milldriggan Burn).

The principal (south) elevation has a late-20th century glazed porch addition with a hipped and slated roof to the centre of the property. The north (rear) elevation has a harled gabled porch to the centre with a pitched roof.

The windows to the principal elevation are two-pane, top-hopper timber replacements. Those to the rear elevation are in a mixture of glazing patterns, including some four-pane windows in timber sash and case frames and some late-20th century non-traditional replacements, one window opening in the east wing was formerly a door. The gabled roof is covered in slates and there is a late-20th century dormer breaking the roof eaves on the east wing. There are three coped end chimneystacks, and sandstone skews with skewputts to the front elevation of the property.

Photographs, taken in 2023, show the interior of the house retains some late-18th or 19th century features, such as some whitewashed rubble walls, a large fireplace opening in one of the principal rooms and panelled timber doors.

Historical background

Milldriggan Mill and the adjacent mill house are thought to date from the late-18th century (SCRAN). The listed building record for the mill notes it may have been built as a textile mill due to the size and quality of the building (LB13120) and later became a corn mill. The water-driven mill was rebuilt and extended in the early-19th century by William Routledge, a miller from Cumbria (SCRAN; Carlisle Journal).

Shown on Ainslie's map of 1821, the mill and the mill house are first shown in detail on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1848. The Ordnance Survey Name Book of 1845-49 describes Milldriggan as a small settlement comprising a farmhouse, a corn and flour mill, and a few scattered cottages (OS1/35/67/6). The 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1894 names the complex as a corn mill and shows Milldriggan Mill House with the two-storey east wing and single-storey mono-pitched extensions attached.

The McDowall family owned the mill and occupied the house from at least the 1860s through to the 1960s (SCRAN). The 1861 Census Return for William McDowall lists his occupation as miller and a farmer of 53 acres, employing 4 men in the mill and one domestic servant in the house (Ancestry).

The adjacent Milldriggan Mill was disused after the 1960s and was converted to a dwellinghouse around 2008-2012 (Dumfries and Galloway Planning Portal, reference numbers 06/P/5/0091 and 06/P/5/0092). Milldriggan Mill and Milldriggan Mill House are private houses in separate ownership (2023).

Statement of Special Interest

We have found that Milldriggan Mill House continues to meet the criteria for listing for the following reasons:

• The house is a good quality example of a mill manager's house which survives largely unaltered and retains much of its historic character, plan form and exterior design.
• It forms a functionally related group with the adjacent former corn mill (listed separately at category B, LB13120).
• It is a relatively early example of this common building type that survives in its historic setting alongside the converted mill.

Architectural interest

Dating from the late-18th century, Milldriggan Mill House is a detached house that was built to accommodate the mill owner/manager of the adjacent Milldriggan Mill (historically a corn mill). It's a good quality example of a late-18th century mill house and its simple classical style is evident in its symmetrical front elevation with evenly spaced openings and first floor windows set close to the roof eaves. The size and scale of the property indicates it was a house of some status in the village.

The footprint of the house survives largely as it is shown on the 1st Edition map of 1848. There has been some minor change, such as the addition of the porch to the front elevation, however this has not detracted from the overall late-18th century form of the house.

The house is set back from the A746 road and largely shielded by mature trees. The immediate setting of the house and mill largely remains the same as that shown on the 1st and 2nd Edition maps of 1848 and 1894. The mill house is intervisible with the former mill, and this functional association and historic setting is important in listing terms.

Milldriggan Mill House largely retains its late-18th century historic character and plan form, and much of its historic setting alongside the former corn mill to the east.

Historic interest

The older a building is, and the fewer of its type that survive, the more likely it is to be of special interest. 18th and 19th century mill complexes were once a common building type found widely across Scotland. While many have been lost or significantly altered, some examples do survive typically in rural communities.

Purpose-built accommodation for mill owners or managers became increasingly common from the late-18th century onwards as industrialisation required on-site managers to oversee operations. The house adds to the wider social history of the Braehead area. The design and setting of the house indicate the social status of its occupants in the locality, showing both the scale of the former Milldriggan corn mill and the domestic provision provided for its management in the late-18th century and into the 19th and 20th centuries. Latterly, the mill operated as an agricultural merchants specialising in milling animal feed (Galloway Gazette).

Milldriggan Mill House is a relatively early example of this common building type, and it is, overall, largely unaltered to its exterior. The grouping of the mill house and the adjacent former mill adds to its special interest in terms of listing.

Listed building record revised in 2023.

References

Bibliography

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