Site overview

Oxwellmains Windmill is a small former windmill tower south-west of Oxwellmains farm. Historic Environment Scotland describes it as early nineteenth century or possibly earlier, built of coursed rubble with red sandstone ashlar coping. It was built as a pumping mill for a quarry and was already marked as Windmill (Ruin of) on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map.

Map

Map markers and directions links are provided for location reference only and do not indicate public access or permission to enter a site.
No site photograph is currently available. Images will be added as field visits are carried out.

History

Oxwellmains Windmill is a former wind-powered pumping mill at Oxwellmains near Dunbar in East Lothian. The surviving tower is small and tapered, built of coursed rubble with red sandstone ashlar coping. It has a low north-west entrance and a series of irregularly spaced holes above the base, probably associated with a reefing stage.

Historic Environment Scotland records that the windmill was built as a pumping mill for a quarry and that it was marked on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map as Windmill (Ruin of). Donnachie and Stewart describe the remains as a small windmill about 200 yards south-west of Oxwellmains farm, with the tower standing about 15 feet high. They considered it late eighteenth century and probably used for pumping water.

No detailed machinery description, ownership sequence, or final working date has been established from the sources checked.

Timeline

1750–1825

Wind-powered pumping mill built

Oxwellmains Windmill was built as a small wind-powered pumping mill for a quarry, probably in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century.
1853

Windmill marked as ruin

Oxwellmains Windmill was marked on the 1853 Ordnance Survey map as Windmill (Ruin of).
1989

Listed building designation

Oxwellmains Windmill was listed at Category B on 17 May 1989.

Sources and records

Historic Environment Scotland listed building record; Trove / Canmore place record; Scottish Windmills: An Outline and Inventory; Historic Ordnance Survey mapping