Dam and Culvert, Loch Of Huxter

Central Huxter Water Mill, including the mill race and footbridge, is a group of three horizontal water mills and associated features, dating from the mid-19th century or earlier. It is situated near Sandness on the west coast of Shetland Mainland, overlooking the island of Papa Stour to the north. The mills are built with drystone rubble walls and each contains an upper and lower chamber, positioned along a steep-sided 250-meter long stream that flows from Loch of Huxter to the sea.

The northernmost mill, closest to the sea, has been restored and features a thatched roof secured with a fishing net, ropes (simmens), and stone weights (linkstanes). A small window has been added to the east gable to provide additional light above the timber door.

The interior was last seen in 2017, where the internal mill mechanism was found to be restored. The upper chamber contains a pair of 70-centimeter millstones and a timber grain hopper, while the lower chamber houses a timber nine-paddle wheel or 'tirl'. A concrete tirl is currently positioned beside the outer north wall of the mill as of 2018.

The two upper mills to the south are complete to wallhead, though their timber roof structures have been replaced and they are not thatched as of 2018. The remains of some mill machinery, including a concrete-centred tirl, are visible within the lower chamber of the southernmost mill.

Largely intact stone-lined millraces lead into the lower chamber of each mill. There are three stone slab footbridges that cross the stream, located between each mill at the head of each millrace.

At the head of the Loch of Huxter, a stone dam with a sluice gate opening is situated beside the remains of Huxter Broch (scheduled monument SM2076). The dam consists of a low stone wall across the north end of the loch, featuring a narrow central channel that contains the sluice opening, with a large stone slab forming a bridge over the channel.