The Old Mill and the neighbouring Millbrae Cottage at Bunessan were acquired by the Ross of Mull Historical Centre in 2001. Millbrae Cottage was opened in 2009 as a small museum, an office and an archive storage space and has been open to the public since then. The Old Mill is a ruinous shell and has become increasingly fragile over the last 20 years. It is now at a stage where it needs consolidation work to ensure it is safe enough for activities in and around Millbrae Cottage to continue.

While the urgent repair works are essential, The Ross of Mull Historical Centre would like to go further and repair the building fully with a new use so it can be at the heart of the community once again.

Community Consultation

As a first stage, the Centre is carrying out a Community Consultation to gauge whether there is community support for the venture and would like to hear from as many people as possible who have a connection to the area. The survey can be accessed through this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdD9-hAIIo6LbU23PnUpWL7I4kEk6yF-1r1pdsAWUdOqZJo7g/viewform 

If you know someone who would be interested in filling in the survey but does not have online access, please let them know that they can obtain paper copies of the survey from the Ross of Mull Historical Centre Tel 01681 700659 or by calling into the centre during opening hours.

In addition to the survey, there will be a drop-in session for the community to find out more about the proposed project. Please keep an eye out for further details of the time and date

A Brief History of the Mill

The walls that can be seen today are the remains of a T-plan two-storey water mill that was last in operation before the First World War. Prior to this date, grain, that is oats, barley and corn, had been ground on this site for hundreds of years.

There is evidence of an earlier 18th century single-storey mill on the same site. Records show the mill building was altered in 1830 when improvements were being made to the general estate management of the wider Argyll Estate on Mull. In its current form, the building comprises space for grinding machinery at the front and a drain-drying kiln at the rear.

The power was provided via a mill lade, that diverted water from the burn, giving a 20 foot head of water to power the over-shot water-wheel. Traces of the lade can still be seen running alongside the road above the mill to Linne a Dhuais. Unfortunately the line of the lade was blocked by the  construction of the new road and it is not currently thought to be feasible to reinstate the supply.

For Further Information about the history of the Old Mill click this link for a PDF document.