{{coord, 55.467767, -4.220587, type:landmark_region:GB-SAY, format=dms, display=title Bello Mill frontage, Lugar, Scotland

Bello Mill (also spelt Bellow Mill) was a mill dating from the 18th century on the river called the

Lugar Water The Lugar Water, or River Lugar, is created by the confluence of the Bellow Water and the Glenmuir Water, just north of Lugar, both of which flow from the hills of the Southern Uplands in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Course Source to Cumnock Th ...

, on the estate of James Boswell, Lord Auchinleck in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Before being rebuilt in the 1940s, it had three different sets of mill stones. It had one pair of millstones for rough grinding, and the two pairs of millstones for grinding oatmeal, The neighboring Bello Mill Cottage is famous for being the birthplace of

William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish engineer and inventor. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten yea ...

, who was born in 1754. Murdoch invented gas lighting and did experiments on steam engines in the nearby

Murdoch's Cave Murdoch's Cave, is a relatively small artificial cave created by William Murdoch (1754-1839) and his siblings in the soft red sandstone Lugar river bank cliff just upstream of the old Bellow Mill close to the confluence of the Bellow or Bello ...

. Murdoch's father John Murdoch was tenant and millwright at Bello Mill, which he had taken over in 1754. In 1760, John Murdoch installed the first iron-toothed gears used in a mill in Britain at Bello Mill. These gears were cast at Carron's Foundry in

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

. Bello Mill was at that point the most technically sophisticated mill in the UK. Bello Mill no longer is intact, but the gears are still visible. It was used until the 1960s. The roof is now missing and it is danger of falling into the river. The Bello Mill Cottage is still inhabited.

References

William Murdoch historical site
Watermills in Scotland