Monument record MHG55634 - Mill pond - Rumster, Latheron, Caithness

A mill pond and lade near Rumster, Latheron, Cathness, are shown by the OS on maps from the 1st Edition onwards. The lade ran from a weir on a stream to the west and on the 1st Edition map (1871) is shown entering the mill pond on the north. By the 2nd Edition (1906) the lower course of the lade had been diverted to the middle of the west side of the mill pond. A small building complex or farmstead (labelled 'Ditches of Forse' in 1871) formerly stood on the lower east side of the mill pond (see MHG32729). <1> The pond is now smaller than previously.

An archaeological desk-based assessment and walk-over survey were carried out by C Dagg of the area of proposed forestry at Lower Rumster, Forse, Caithness in 2001. As a greater part of the proposed planting area was deep peat and bog it was proposed that planting would only cover areas without too deep a cover of peat or bog and the archaeological survey concentrated on those areas. It is unclear which mill this mill pond was constructed to serve. <2>