Contin, Watermill

Weir, lade and site of mills,

Weir - NH 4578 5581 Site of mills – NH 4586 5569 and NH 4590 5565 HER No – MHG 21722

The course of the river Blackwater is divided into two forming an island at the village of Contin; the mills, weir and lade are situated at the south end of the village on the east branch of the river. Much of the weir still exists just below a wooden footbridge, and a wide lade can be seen exiting its east end, but the lade continues for 60m only before being destroyed by the gardens of nearby cottages.

Very little remains of the mills which were 200m further down the river close to a stone bridge at NH 4588 5576 ; an elderly resident of the village however provided the information that a saw mill was just upstream of the bridge and the grain mill was downstream of the bridge. The wasted stone foundations of a building can be seen at the bottom of a garden just below the bridge and may be those of the mill seen in the Erskine Beveridge photograph.

Both mills are depicted on the 1st edition OS map and are annotated as such; the weir and lade are also marked. An Erskine Beveridge photograph of “Contin watermill (corn mill), 1886” exists in the EB Collection at the RCAHMS, Edinburgh, it can be accessed on the Canmore website