Dam, South Balluderon

Dam, South Balluderon

This is a substantial farm steading arranged in a near quadrangular plan on falling ground, comprising a mill dating to circa 1800 at the north-west corner, with north, south, east and west ranges of early 19th-century date, and later 19th-century cattle courts and an addition to the south range. The buildings are constructed of rubble masonry with some broad droved dressings and long and short quoins, with piended roofs covered in stone slate, slate, corrugated sheet metal and bitumen impregnated paper. Doors are boarded.

North Range

The north elevation features a slightly advanced threshing barn dating to circa 1800 at the right, distinguished by droved quoins and a large two-leaf hayloft door. To the left stands a byre and feeding stance of early 19th-century date. Ten feeding doors at ground level have droved margins; four on the right have had their openings enlarged by breaking into the lintels, while a later sliding door to a turnip shed occupies the centre. Seven irregular windows serve the hayloft and granary at first floor level, with a hayloft door breaking the eaves in a gabled dormerhead at the second bay from the left. The roof is of stone and Welsh slate, with bitumen impregnated corrugated paper on the south pitch.

The south elevation is five bays wide. A two-storey straw barn of circa 1800 stands at the left (with the west range abutting its lower part), marked by large droved quoins and an entrance at a re-entrant. It carries a stone slate roof. A passage at the right features a later lean-to slate roof leading to a blocked segmental arch of the feeding stance (early 19th century) and an entrance to a cattle court at the right (later 19th century). Three further arches—one a timber safe and one blocked—open from the former south (courtyard) elevation of the north range. A covered cattle court with a rounded angle and sliding door abuts at the centre. A further cattle court, advanced at the right with a supposed standing stone in its re-entrant angle, has a rounded angle and two sliding doors; both courts have open slate roofs. The taller end bay of the east range (early 19th century) stands at the far right, with a door to a poultry house and a piended roof with slates to the south and corrugated sheet metal elsewhere.

East Range

The east elevation is a cartshed of early 19th-century date. A stone water trough stands at the left. Four segmental arches occupy the centre and right, one of which contains doors to a gig house. The taller end elevation of the north range rises to the right with a door to the byre.

West Range

The west elevation features a curved wall at the left enclosing the mill race (circa 1800) in a re-entrant, with a window in a bay above containing the remains of an iron control mechanism at the right. Two openings serve the wheel house, two windows occupy the first floor and one the second floor. Blank bays to the straw barn are recessed at the right. A single-storey early 19th-century wing at the far right has two blocked windows. The roof is of stone slate and corrugated sheet metal.

The east elevation has an off-centre two-leaf door to an implement shed with large quoins, a stable door at the left re-entrant and a byre door at the right, with a galvanised roof. A two-storey threshing barn stands at the far right with gate pins to a former open cattle court.

South Range

Two blocked doors to stables appear on the south elevation, with a piended corrugated sheet metal roof. The north elevation has a sliding door to an implement shed at the left (later 19th century) and a stable door at the right.

Ancillary Structures

A rectangular stackyard at the north is enclosed by a rubble wall with remains of shackle stanes. A former boiler house, now an implement shed, is a single-storey rectangular structure built on falling ground at the south stackyard wall, with a large two-leaf door at the south and a truncated stack at the north. A stone slab water trough in the south extension of the east stackyard wall extends into the field at the east.

The mill dam, separated from the north-east corner of the steading by a lane with a now-drained pond, comprises a rubble dam at the south and walls at the north (with a bole on the south side), east and west. The main dam wall contains a sluice and some large lining slabs.

Interior

The mill retains many original fittings and equipment, including a wrought-iron overshot waterwheel with drive mechanism connected to an early example of a Scottish threshing machine patented by George Meikle in 1788, with an elevator to the straw barn. A hand-operated fanner and bagger occupy the lower threshing barn. The north range features a stone slab water trough, timber and rubble feeding trough in the feeding stance, a cobbled floor, stone slab trevises and timber feeding hecks in the byre, and a cattle cake cutter in the hayloft granary. The east range cart sheds contain a timber floor and harness pegs in the gig house. The cattle courts have a central raised feed passage with a cast-iron column supporting a timber beam, and timber feeding hecks on the east wall. The south and west ranges contain byres with cobbled floors and stone slab trevises, stables with raked cobbled floors and timber trevises, and a binder or reaper in the implement store.