Altanabradhan Mill

Seemingly in the middle of no-where lies this ruin of a meal mill (muileann) with several of the old mill wheels and the millrace still to be seen. In fact, it was built around 1760 on the boundary of Clachtoll and Achmelvich
townships and shared by the tenants who paid thirlage to
the Estate for the privilege. 

It was operated by John Macleod, up to the end of the nineteenth century. In fact, the footings of the miller’s house are still visible at
the tip of the hill. Also known, as a “clack mill” from the
noise made by the clacking of the stones as they turned,
horizontal water mills are common in Scandinavia, the
Northern and Western Isles. The water supply for the
mill was Loch na Creige Leithe, the Loch of the Grey
Crag, where a dam and sluice were built to control the
flow. Water would have been forced down a chute to turn
wooden paddles. The grinding stones were set horizontally above the paddles.