Weisdale 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 ...

in the village of Weisdale,

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, Scotland. It is located near the head of Weisdale Voe on the west of the island, a twenty-minute drive from the main town of

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

History

Weisdale Mill was built in 1855 and was Shetland's largest

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

. The Weisdale Mill was a busy working mill for many years until the early 1930s. Crofters and farmers came from some considerable distance to get their oats and corn ground into meal and flour. With very little in the way of transport people walked long distances with their crops which then had to be left at the mill and collected at a later date. Some crofters came up the Weidale Voe by boat as far as they could and then walked the short distance to the mill. In 1936 it was bought by a local farmer (Tony Anderson) and was converted into a slaughter house and butcher shop. The slaughter house was in the basement(where the cafe is now). The ground floor was used for the butcher shop. The top floor was used for storage and was often used to salt sheepskins before they were sold. The butcher shop and slaughter house were very busy particularly during the war years when large numbers of men from the forces were stationed at Scatsta. They also ran a large walk-in butcher van which visited many areas of Shetland daily selling beef and lamb. During the war the mill was actually hit by enemy fire and some bullets came in the back door which was open at the time. Fortunately no one was hurt. In 1982 it ceased to function as a butcher shop and slaughter house. It stood empty for some time but after extensive renovations, completed in 1994, the site is now managed by Shetland Arts and contains the Bonhoga Gallery (an art gallery whose name means "my spiritual home"), the Mill Cafe and a gift shop.

References

Buildings and structures in Shetland Art museums and galleries in Scotland Tourist attractions in Shetland Mainland, Shetland {{Shetland-struct-stub