Auchinbaird Windmill
This structure is located just off a modern housing estate, so it’s good to see that it hasn’t fallen foul of misguided planning decisions. I take a lot of photographs, usually every day. I’m so pleased with the image I took that day which accompanies this blog post. There were two good ones to choose from, so I chose the landscape version, with the tower looking slightly lopsided, with the hills in the background. I note there is no sign of modern life in this picture.
The Auchinbaird Windmill was originally a late 17th or early 18th century vaulted tower grain windmill. It is 53 metres high (173 feet). The tower stands on a stone-built vaulted cellar, which acted as another floor. This allowed access for horse and cart to deliver the grain and then remove the finished goods. The original wooden windcap would have been a third storey, but along with the wood and fabric sails these are long gone. This windcap would have been rotated into the wind by hand.
By the early 19th century, the structure was converted into a dovecot or doocot. There was a farm close by, called Auchinbaird, and doocots were a feature at this time. The droppings on the floor from the nesting boxes were used as fertiliser, and apparently in the making of gunpowder. The droppings were also used in the process of dyeing linen and in tanning leather. As a result, the structure is also referred to as the Sauchie Doocot.
It’s a shame the building hasn’t survived completely intact, and it would be so nice to see it completely restored to how it was. As with so many similar sites, it’s down to money and resource. As an aside, I visited on the same day as Sauchie Tower, as they are around fifteen minutes walk from each other, hence the bright sunshine and blue sky in the photograph attached to this blog post.
The Fiction Factory 