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 mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

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, Northumberland, Warden near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The ...

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, Scotland, River Tyne and A199 road (former A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road) five miles east of Haddington, East Lothian, Haddington, with ...

on the B1407 Preston Road, in

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, 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 h ...

, the Smeaton Hepburn Estate, Smeaton Lake, and Phantassie Doocot. It is a

Category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

. 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 () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

. It was used commercially until 1959, and it produced

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

. The River Tyne still drives the

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

, 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 co ...

. The

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

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

Andrew Meikle 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 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, chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects m ...

, 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 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