Dounby Click Mill

Dounby Click Mill is a small drystone building with a turf roof, tucked beside a stream near Dounby on Orkney's West Mainland, and the only mill in Orkney that still holds all its internal machinery. John Spence built it between 1822 and 1824 to replace an older mill, and it ground grain for about 60 years until the mid-1880s. It is a horizontal mill, the type often called a Norse mill and perhaps going back to the early medieval period, designed to make the most of a small, low flow of water. Its wheel is unusual, with two rows of six blades one above the other. Through the unlocked door visitors see the grindstones, cowling, hopper and meal bin, and outside the lade and the openings of the wheel-house below the floor. Reviewers park in a lay-by on the B9057 and walk about five minutes up a track and across a field, sometimes past cattle, and say boots or wellies help after rain.