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Windmill Mine

Dundrennan, Barlocco, Airyhill, Kirkcudbrightshire.

Barytes Mine, 19th-20th Centuries.

Mine complex with three winding levels (lower, middle and Windmill [upper]), closed in 1961. The upper (Windmill) level opened onto a road, on the other side of which was an old shaft that was unconnected to the main system (probably the current road to Barlocco Farm and the 'shaft' labelled just NE of it on the 1895 OS map). The sites of the three entrances and old shaft appear to have been infilled under fields / rough grassland.

"The mill [ore crusher at Auchencairn Mine] was repurposed and continued in use into the 1960s dressing the barytes from the more successful Windmill mine along the coast to the west." [Coastwise, 2019]

Alternative Names: None recorded.

Notes: The given coordinates are for the feature on Pastmap marked as 'Workings (dis)'. These are consistent with the location marker on the mine's abandonment plan and are probably the site of the Windmill Level entrance. This is also close to the wind pump (Wd Pp) marked on the OS map, probably the source of the mine's name.

The differing passages illustrated on the abandonment plans show that this mine is a different complex to the neighbouring Barlocco Mine (Site 335).