Preston Mill is a

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

on the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

at the eastern edge of

East Linton East Linton is a village and former police burgh in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the River Tyne and A199 road (former A1 road) five miles east of Haddington, with an estimated population of in . During the 19th century the populatio ...

on the B1407 Preston Road, in

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

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 ...

, UK. It is situated close to

Prestonkirk Parish Church Prestonkirk Parish Church is a Church of Scotland parish church at East Linton, in the parish of Traprain, East Lothian, Scotland, UK, close to Preston Mill, Smeaton, Phantassie, and the River Tyne. Building The original church is said to ha ...

, the Smeaton Hepburn Estate, Smeaton Lake, and

Phantassie Doocot Phantassie is an agricultural hamlet near East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland. It is close to the River Tyne, Preston Mill, and Prestonkirk Parish Church. The Phantassie Farm and Workshop, presently owned by Hamilton Farmers, is the birthpl ...

. It is a

Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: Philosophy and general uses *Categorization, categories in cognitive science, information science and generally *Category of being *Categories (Aristotle), ''Categories'' (Aristotle) *Category (Kant) ...

. Preston is a hamlet adjacent to

, Scotland. There has been a mill on the site since the 16th century. The present mill dates from the 18th century and is in the care of the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...

. It was used commercially until 1959, and it produced

oatmeal Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground) or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are ...

. The River Tyne still drives the

water wheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

, and the machinery can still be seen at work by visitors taking part in a tour. There is also an exhibition about milling, and a

mill pond A mill pond (or millpond) is a body of water used as a reservoir for a water-powered mill. Description Mill ponds were often created through the construction of a mill dam or weir (and mill stream) across a waterway. In many places, the com ...

. The

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and

millwright A millwright is a craftsperson or skilled tradesperson who installs, dismantles, maintains, repairs, reassembles, and moves machinery in factories, power plants, and construction sites. The term ''millwright'' (also known as ''industrial mecha ...

Andrew Meikle Andrew Meikle (5 May 1719 – 27 November 1811) was a Scottish mechanical engineer credited with inventing the threshing machine, a device used to remove the outer husks from grains of wheat. He also had a hand in assisting Firbeck in the inve ...

maintained the mill in the 18th century. In 1948 a flood submerged the buildings, and in 1950 a local land owner gave the mill to the

. The milling firm

Rank Hovis McDougall RHM plc, formerly Rank Hovis McDougall, was a United Kingdom food business. The company owned numerous brands, particularly for flour, where its core business started, and for consumer food products. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange an ...

provided help with the renovation and expertise to allow the mill to be operative again. Preston Mill consists of a

kiln A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...

, a mill, and the miller's house. The mill wheel dates back to 1909. The mill is loved by visitors, painters and photographers, especially the kiln with its conical red

pantile A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses. A pantile-covered roo ...

roof.

Photo gallery

Image:PrestonMill NTS.jpg, The entrance road to Preston Mill is close to Prestonkirk Image:Preston millstone.jpg, Ornamental millstone with legend: Preston Mill National Trust for Scotland Image:PrestonMillExhib.jpg, Milling Exhibition Image:Preston Mill Kiln.jpg, The Kiln Image:PrestonMill KilnRoof.jpg, Kiln roof Image:PrestonMill wheel.jpg, The mill wheel Image:Prestonmill flood1.jpg, Flooding from the River Tyne Image:PrestonMillStream.jpg, Mill stream and surrounding area prone to floods Image:Prestonmill flood2.jpg, Mill closed due to flooding

References

Poem about Preston Mill
by Rowena M Love, published by the SCOTS (Scottish Corpus Of Texts & Speech) Project and the University of Glasgow.

External links

Undiscovered Scotland - Preston Mill and Phantassie Doocot

RCAHMS record for Preston Mill
* *
National Trust for Scotland webpage for Preston Mill

National Trust for Scotland education resources for Preston Mill
Buildings and structures in East Lothian History of East Lothian Watermills in Scotland Tourist attractions in East Lothian Museums in East Lothian National Trust for Scotland properties Mill museums in Scotland Category A listed buildings in East Lothian East Linton {{Scotland-struct-stub