Oct 14, 2023·edited Oct 14, 2023Liked by Fiona Campbell-Howes
Was Moray just too flat?
"The distribution of the horizontal mill in Scotland covers the Northern Isles, Caithness and Sutherland, the Hebrides, Mull, the Kintyre peninsula and also Galloway, to judge by the find of a scoop-shaped paddle there. They also appear in the Isle of Man, and in Ireland, as already mentioned. They are indeed a worldwide phenomenon, except in very flat areas where there is no run of water to drive them."
(Fenton & Veitch (eds.): Scottish Life and Society: Farming and the
Ok, wow, after all those years of being an enthusiast of all things Pict you are now giving lectures to Pictish societies? Talk about leveling up, Fiona, nice job!
Nice one Fiona! The double-disc/Z symbol occurs in good grain-growing spots and some of these symbols may co-locate with a mill - they certainly do in modern terms, but hard to know if that was the case going back to Pictish times too. But it also suggests that the mill for Portmahomack wasn't at the monastery itself, but at Hilton of Cadboll. The land above it has been sectioned with irrigation channels today, but there is still a hint that a line of water comes down to the southern part of the sunken crescent on which the chapel stood. A pond above would have provided an excellent head of water to fall down the fairly steep side of the raised beach there, providing an excellent spot for a mill. And I've always wondered why the Picts had a 'chapel' on such a boggy place low down, now I know, with a mill race it probably wasn't as boggy then after all - so thanks!
There are traces of, an references to, a very old tidal mill in Munlochy, down at the waters edge below Bayhead Farm.
Was Moray just too flat?
"The distribution of the horizontal mill in Scotland covers the Northern Isles, Caithness and Sutherland, the Hebrides, Mull, the Kintyre peninsula and also Galloway, to judge by the find of a scoop-shaped paddle there. They also appear in the Isle of Man, and in Ireland, as already mentioned. They are indeed a worldwide phenomenon, except in very flat areas where there is no run of water to drive them."
(Fenton & Veitch (eds.): Scottish Life and Society: Farming and the
land ,p. 745-6)
Ok, wow, after all those years of being an enthusiast of all things Pict you are now giving lectures to Pictish societies? Talk about leveling up, Fiona, nice job!
Nice one Fiona! The double-disc/Z symbol occurs in good grain-growing spots and some of these symbols may co-locate with a mill - they certainly do in modern terms, but hard to know if that was the case going back to Pictish times too. But it also suggests that the mill for Portmahomack wasn't at the monastery itself, but at Hilton of Cadboll. The land above it has been sectioned with irrigation channels today, but there is still a hint that a line of water comes down to the southern part of the sunken crescent on which the chapel stood. A pond above would have provided an excellent head of water to fall down the fairly steep side of the raised beach there, providing an excellent spot for a mill. And I've always wondered why the Picts had a 'chapel' on such a boggy place low down, now I know, with a mill race it probably wasn't as boggy then after all - so thanks!
You raise a very good question Fiona.
Is this perhaps an unusual case of absence of evidence actually being evidence of absence?
Keep burrowing 🐇