Milladen Mill, Old Deer

Milladen Mill, Old Deer

Milladen Mill is a three-storey woollen mill dating from 1868, though fabric from an earlier mill of 1789 may be incorporated into the structure. The main building is rectangular in plan with a double attic and various abutments to the long southeast and northwest elevations. The mill is built into a steep bank and is largely constructed in harl-pointed, coursed rubble. A series of alterations and additions were carried out in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The main northwest elevation has multiple bays and is accessed via an entrance door on the upper floor, set within a later 20th-century mono-pitched porch. A three-storey return with a double-hipped roof abuts the south end, contemporary with the main mill building and similarly detailed. A two-storey hip-roofed return abuts the re-entrant angle. A further two-storey addition abuts the southwest corner, with walls clad in corrugated metal and a timber frame over a rendered base; both additions appear to date from the later 19th century.

The gabled southwest elevation is largely two bays, with the apex faced in replacement corrugated metal. A low-breast, three-ring, start-and-awe type waterwheel is attached to the building, measuring 16 by 6 feet in diameter and dating from 1868. It has curved, sheet-metal paddles (awes) and metal spokes dating from 1912. The southwest elevation is adjoined to the west by the four-bay return that abuts the front northwest elevation.

The rear southeast elevation is similar in appearance to the main northwest elevation, with regular window openings on each level and an entrance door on the upper floor. A rectangular-plan, two-storey addition with a pitched slate roof abuts to left-of-centre, dating from around the early 20th century.

The northeast elevation is gabled with three openings, only the apex rising above ground level. Two of the openings are accessed via metal ladders and footholds.

Window openings throughout have roughly tooled rybats and vary in size, with those on the third floor spaced at regular intervals. The southwest elevation has replacement fixed or casement timber windows in a mixture of glazing patterns. The roofs are predominantly slated with small rooflights and a single dormer to the northwest and southeast roof pitches.

Internally, the mill contains iron waterwheel apparatus and a mid-20th-century Bryce Power Capacitor.

The mill lade is a concrete-lined structure running from west to east towards the mill, measuring approximately 2.5 metres wide by 75 centimetres deep. A sluice gate and filter grate at the start of the lade divert water from South Ugie Water. The road is carried over the lade on granite slabs and boulders. A footpath runs alongside the lade, with remains of iron sluice gates and stone footbridges visible along its length. An overflow system at the mill end features a wheel redirection tunnel built of brick and rubble.

Small ancillary buildings to the east, a long single-storey range further to the east, and a two-storey store to the west date from after the mid-20th century and are excluded from the listing. A garden lies in front of the mill and a carpark at the rear.

The mill was founded in 1789 as a water-powered flax mill on Aden estate lands between Stuartfield and Old Deer. In 1798 the Reverend George Cruden took out a feu and the mill switched to wool carding and cloth production. Between 1835 and 1837 the mill was taken over by Alexander Rennie, subsequently operating as J C Rennie & Co. Ltd. The New Statistical Account of 1845 notes two woollen mills in the parish of Old Deer, with Aden (Milladen) producing coarser woollen cloth and yarn for stockings. Until the early 1970s, woollen cloth made here was finished at Quartalehouse, a water-powered waulk-mill nearby in Stuartfield.

The current building was reconstructed in 1868, when four mules, carding machinery, looms and the low-breast waterwheel were added. It is unclear how much fabric of the original mill was incorporated in the reconstruction. Further alterations and additions followed fire damage in 1877. The 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1870 shows two mills named Mill of Aden: one labelled a corn mill to the west and the other a woollen mill to the east. The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1865-71) describes Milladen as a substantial woollen mill producing flannel and worsted, employing about 28 hands when in full operation. It was occupied and operated by Alexander Rennie and owned by Mr Russell Esq of Aden. Ownership of the mill transferred from the Russells of Aden to the Rennie family during the 19th century.

In 1887 a retail warehouse was built at Mintlaw Station to house stock for rail distribution. This warehouse was destroyed by fire in 1928. Machinery upgrades and further additions and alterations were completed in the early 20th century, including the addition of curved iron paddles and iron spokes to the waterwheel in 1912. By the 1930s the mill was producing woollen yarn, tweeds, blankets and rugs for local and nationwide sale.

Milladen Mill continued to be powered by water into the late 1970s and 1980s. The mill is now powered by electricity, though the lade flows with water and the waterwheel remains in position with the intention of engaging waterpower in the future. The mill continues to operate as a woollen mill and retail outlet under the name J C Rennie & Co.