Monument record MHG29850 - Ranachan Mill

A dilapidated rectangular structure is situated on the W bank of Allt a’ Mhuilinn below, and to the S of, the A861 road to Ardnamurchan. The mill measures 8m NW-SE by 5.50m and is constructed of large mortared blocks with an infill of slates. The walls are 0.85m thick and survive on the SE side mostly to a height of 2.60m with one small part precariously reaching c. 3.80m above the wheel pit. The SW and NE walls are mostly reduced to a height of 0.50m, and the rear, NW, wall is now represented by a low revetment. The entrance is on the SW side. Two millstones, 1.35m in diameter lie within the interior.

The wheel pit for a vertical wheel lies on the SE side; now partly rubble-filled, it measures 1.15m wide. The cast-iron axle is still in situ and rests on the outer edge of the pit on a large indented block, 1.23m long, 0.55m wide and 0.35m high. The axle aperture in the mill wall measures 0.60m long by 0.70m high.

The mill is threatened by deciduous tree growth in and around the walls.

The mill lade, now choked, can be traced northwards from the wheel pit. The Telford bridge at NM 7897 6130, on the N side of the present road bridge over the Allt a’Mhuilinn, has an arched opening for the mill lade to the West of the stream arch. (Info from Mr. George Fox).
Field verification Project (West Lochaber) - J Robertson, 03/2004
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Jim Kirby knows this mill well. It is said to have been the only Meal Mill on the Sunart Estate in the middle of last century. J Dye, Acharacle, info passed on by G Clark, Treslaig (ref 17).
AMF, Highland Council, 09/03/01