Spinningdale Mill

#1 Daughter was heading home today to Kirkwall so we met her fiance at the mound and I drove back home via Spinningdale. I saw this old ruin and wondered what it was so came home and looked up the web.

Built around 1790, by George Dempster (owner of Skibo estate) and David Dale, the cotton mill was located here to lessen unemployment and poverty within the area. The site was ideal for producing cotton, as it offered a damp climate, a nearby burn for water power and was close to the sea, for importing the raw cotton. However, due to unreliability in the workforce during lambing, harvesting and peating times, the mill was not successful. When fire broke out in 1806 and gutted the mill buildings, they were never rebuilt.

Lambing continues and we now have eight lambs.
Weather today very mixed with showers of rain and sleet and sun and blue skies.