Barry Mill

Barry Mill is a working Category A listed watermill in Barry, Angus in eastern Scotland. It is owned and operated by the National Trust for Scotland as an educational tourist attraction. Situated in a secluded area beside the Barry Burn (the watercourse, which provides its power), the mill lies about half a mile north of the village of Barry, near the town of Carnoustie. It is a three floor building, containing a meal floor (basement), a milling floor and a top (or "bin floor"). A site for several mills since at least 1539, Barry Mill was commercially operational until 1984; it was then restored, and has been operated by the Trust since 1992. It was threatened with closure in March 2009, but has remained open due to local support, and the securing of external funding.

When in operation, the mill processes oats into oatmeal. (Oatmeal being a staple foodstuff, that in the past commonly formed part of the basic diet in Scotland.) Originally, the oats arrived in sacks from the neighbouring farms and had already been threshed. (There is an example of traditional threshing machine on display at the mill.) The oats were then dried in the mill's peat-fired kiln and then sent down a chute to the meal floor to be collected in sacks again. Today the oats arrive already processed, but the rest of the milling continues in the traditional style.

The oats are hoisted to the bin floor at the top of the mill, from where they are emptied into a hopper that feeds one of the mill's two pairs of millstones situated on the mill floor. This pair of sandstone millstones shells the grain, and the output is then sent down a chute to the basement where the shelled oats ("groats") are separated from the husks using a fan. The groats are then hoisted back to the top floor and fed through the second pair of millstones (made of French burr stone). This produces the oatmeal, which descends to the basement for bagging.

The mill is powered by the Barry Burn: there is a working dam and lade half a mile upstream, which channel water to the mill wheel. The wheel is 15 feet 6 inches (4.72 m) diameter, and is powered by the water dropping down from the lade on downstream side of the overshot waterwheel . The mill's power is controlled by a series of levers, cogs and gears in the basement. These supply power to the millstones, to the hoists, and to a fan that is used to separate the groats from the chaff.

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